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A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 
FROM 1897 TO 1909 



A HISTORY OF THE 

PRESIDENCY 

FROM 1897 TO 1909 



BY 



EDWARD STANWOOD, Litt.D. (Bowdoin) 




BOSTON AND NEW YORK 

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 

^\)e RitcrjSJDe prcjSjS Cambrilioe 

1912 



O.^r--' 






^^^ 

'W"^ 



COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY EDWARD STANWOOD \j -l ^^'^ 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 

Published October iQia i : 



:<6 



13^ <93^^-^ 



gCI.A327304 



PREFACE 

This continuation of the "History of the Presidency" 
covers the three presidential campaigns of 1900, 1904, and 
1908, together with a somewhat compreliensive notice of the 
important political events of the whole period, whether they 
did or did not have a perceptible influence upon the result of 
a general election, and a discussion of the evolution of the 
presidential office. It has tluis the advantages and the disad- 
vantages of an attempt to present the political history of the 
most recent times. Any one competent to prepare such a his- 
tory must have been by conviction a member of one of the two 
great parties ; but it is hoped that any views herein expressed 
will be found not to be colored by offensive partisanship. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 

I. " Imperialism " the " Paramount " Issue . 
II. Roosevelt's Election for a " Second Term " 

III. The Era of " Progressive " Insurgency . 

IV. The Evolution of the Presidency . 

Appendix 

Index 



1 

77 
141 
214 
247 
293 



A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

FROM 1897 TO 1909 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 

The election of 1896 restored to the Republican party the 
full control of tlie national government in all its departments. 
The situation during the second half of President Cleveland's 
second administration was abnormal and unsatisfactory, for the 
government was divided against itself to an unprecedented de- 
gree. The Senate was still controlled by the Democrats and 
their Populist allies, by the narrowest of majorities, and the 
President was a Democrat ; but the House of Representatives 
was Republican in the proportion of five of that party to two 
of the combined opposition. ^ Moreover, there was no real 
political accord between the Senate and the President. On the 
great issue of the times, the free and unlimited coinage of sil- 
ver, they Avere actively antagonistic ; and the closing chapter 
of the history of the Tariff Act of 1894 Avas still remembered 
by some leading Democratic senators, and the breach in their 
relations with Mr. Cleveland remained. 

In such circumstances no legislation having a savor of party 
politics could be passed. The President was forced to rely 
upon Republican aid to deal with the fiscal situation — a seri- 
ous deficit ; and that aid was given, although the President and 
the Republican leaders disputed almost angrily the cause of .the 
depletion of the gold reserve. Mr. Cleveland was no defender 
of the Tariff Act of 1894 ; but he contended that it was not 
true that the repeated gold loans were rendered necessary, and 
were made, and that their proceeds were used, to meet the de- 
ficiency in the revenue. The Repiiblicans, on the other hand, 

1 Fiftj'-fourth Congress. Senate, Democrats, 39; Populists, 6; Republi- 
cans, 44; one vacancy. House of Representatives, Repul)licans, 252; Demo- 
crats, 93; Populists, 8; Silver, 1; Fusion, 1 ; vacancies, 2. 



2 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

maintained that if the revenue had been sufficient the gold re- 
serve could not have been drawn upon as it vi^as, and that 
consequently the loans would not have been necessary. 

The difficult situation was brought to an end when the new 
administration came into power. Congress was Republican in 
both branches,^ and both the majority and the minority parties 
were more united than had been the case for a long time. The 
declaration in favor of free silver in the Democratic platform, 
and in favor of the single gold standard in that of the Repub- 
licans, in the canvass of 1896, caused a serious secession from 
each party, and the nominating conventions on both sides had 
therefore been careful to choose as candidates for seats in Con- 
gress men who could be relied upon to support the party policy 
on the great issue of the day. 

Nevertheless the silver question was not the sole issue in 
the canvass of 1896, and the importance of the tariff issue must 
not be overlooked. In the far Western States, where the sen- 
timent was almost unanimous in favor of free silver, the Repub- 
lican campaign was conducted on the issue of Protection, as 
against the Wilson-Gorman tariff, and its free wool feature. 
It was not a successful campaign, so far as electoral votes were 
concerned, but it served to preserve a nucleus around which the 
temporary deserters clustered, at the next election. 

On the other side of the political fence the situation was 
different. Many thousands of "Old line" Democrats voted 
for Mr. McKinley because of their opposition to free silver 
and the other radical policies championed by Mr. Bryan, and in 
spite of their only less serious objection to a protective tariff 
of which, in popular opinion, Mr. McKinley was the protag- 
onist. Others, who could not forego that objection, voted for 
General Palmer. No Democrat of either of the classes opposed 
to Mr. Bryan was elected to Congress. But in the country, and 
in a certain portion of the press, the dissentient Democratic 
opinion made itself felt. It was urged, of course without avail, 
that the election had decided primarily that the people desired 
the establishment of the single gold standard of money, and only 
secondarily, if at all, that they were in favor of a protective 
tariff. Those who took that view maintained, accordingly, that 

1 Fiftj'-fifth Congress. Senate, Republicans, 46; Democrats, 34; Populists, 
5; Independents, 3; Silver party, 2. House of Representatives, Republicans, 
202; Democrats, 130; Populists, 21; Silver party, 3; Fusion, 1. Two of the 
Independents in the Senate usually acted with the Republicans. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 3 

the reformation of the currency system was the first duty of 
Congress and of the President, and tliey denounced the reversal 
of the programme as a virtual betrayal of the people whose man- 
date they had received. 

Mr. McKinley made it evident in his inaugural address that 
he regarded a revision of the tariff' as the immediate duty of 
the law. Undoubtedly he personally deemed it of greater im- 
portance than the reform of the money system. But that is to 
be inferred rather from his speeches in Congress^ and as a can- 
didate for the presidency than from his language at his in- 
auguration. Indeed, his attitude toward the silver question 
was somewhat timid. He still spoke of keeping silver at parity 
with gold. But as for the tariff" he was decided. '' The people," 
he said, " have decided that such legislation should be had as 
will give ample protection and encouragement to the industries 
and development of our country. It is therefore earnestly hoped 
and expected that Congress will, at the earliest practicable mo- 
ment, enact revenue legislation that shall be fair, reasonable, 
conservative, and just, and which, while supplying sufficient 
revenue for public purposes, will still be signally beneficial and 
helpful to every section and every enterprise of the people." 
He discussed the existing financial system, referred to the 
succession of annual deficits, assumed, without making an un- 
necessary argument upon the subject, that expenditures should 
be met by revenue rather than by loans, and set forth his 
opinion on the general question by remarking that " with ade- 
quate revenue secured, but not until then, we can enter upon 
changes in our fiscal laws." 

Undoubtedly, in thus placing tariff" revision first on his pro- 
gramme, he was in accord with the great majority of his sup- 
porters both in Congress and in the country at large. But 
there were two excellent reasons, from a practical point of 
view, why his preference was natural and wise. An attempt 
to establish the gold standard during the first half of Mr. 
McKinley's term would have been foredoomed to failure. The 
House of Representatives of the Fifty-fifth Congress was 
strongly anti-silver. If the question had been brought to a 
test it is doubtful if any Republican meml^er of that body 
Avould have voted for free silver. But in the Senate it was 
different. As has been noted, there were 46 Republican sen- 
ators, and 44 of the combined opposition, every member of 
which was a declared advocate of free silver. Four of the Re- 



4 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

publicans were also determined advocates of the measure, be- 
side two other senators who supported it conditionally. It 
would have been most unwise to submit a gold-standard bill 
to a Senate so constituted. Indeed, it soon appeared that the 
silver senators practically held the balance of power, and were 
resolved to make their own power felt. 

The other reason for the preference of the tariff question 
over the currency question — if the reason just given had not 
been all-powerful — was the fact that the way had already 
been prepared for immediate action upon it. In anticipation 
of that which actually occurred, the Committee on Ways and 
Means of the Fifty-fourth Congress had for months been pre- 
paring a tariff bill. Protracted hearings were held, and a great 
amount of testimony was taken, no doubt with an understand- 
ing between the Committee and Mr. McKinley that an ex- 
traordinary session of Congress would be held almost immedi- 
ately after the inauguration. On the 6th of March the President 
issued a proclamation summoning the Fifty-fifth Congress to 
meet on the loth of the same month. At the beginning of the 
session he sent a message on the subject of the deficiency in 
the revenues of the government, and urged the speedy pass- 
age of a tariff act. All the Republican members of the Ways 
and Means Committee had been reelected, and Mr. Speaker 
Reed ^ reappointed them on the committee. The bill was 
practically ready, and on the 19th it was reported to the 
House. 

The modern practice of the House of Representatives in 
dealing with measures which are both complicated and of a 
partisan character, is to curb and limit actual debate by means 
of special rules. In this case the Committee on Rules brought 
in a resolution that the bill should be taken up for considera-r 
tion on March 22; that "general debate" should continue for 
four days ; that from March 26 the bill should be open to 
amendment in Committee of the Whole, — amendments pro- 
posed by the Committee on Ways and Means to 'have the pre- 
ference; and that on March 31 at three o'clock the House 
should come to a final vote on the passage of the bill. A course 
of action precisely similar was laid out by the Committee on 
Rules of the Fifty-third Congress, when the Wilson tariff bill 
Avas brought in, in 1894, but the time allowed for proposing 

1 Reelected Speaker by 199 votes, to 114 for Mr. Bailey of Texas, 21 for 
Mr. Bell of Colorado^ and 1 for Mr. Newlands of Nevada. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 5 

and discussing amendments was longer. In neither case was 
the privilege of presenting amendments of the slightest benefit 
to the opposition, for the obvious reason that every such 
amendment, however meritorious, was certain to be rejected. 

There is much to be said both for and against such a method 
of procedure. The traditional practice of parliamentary bodies 
is violated in a fundamental principle by a system which for- 
bids a detailed examination of a revenue measure. The rights 
of the minority are practically abrogated, since they are con- 
ceded in such a restricted form that they are ineffective. The 
body which passes upon the measures before it under such 
rules has really ceased to be a deliberative body. The meas- 
ures are drawn by a committee, or rather by the majority of a 
committee, and are virtually unamendable save by the consent 
of those members of the committee. Should any amendment 
not acceptable to them be agreed to in a snap division in com- 
mittee of the whole, they are usually if not invariably able to 
reverse the decision when the bill is reported to the House. 

On the other hand, experience has shown that the choice is 
not between this system and the former one, if a tariff bill is 
to be passed, but between the new system and failure to pass 
the bill. The House of Representatives is almost twice as num- 
erous a body as it was when Clay brought in his compromise 
tariff bill, and there are probably more than five times as 
many talking members now as there were then. At the same 
time the volume of business to be transacted has certainly in- 
creased tenfold. If, then, a tariff bill were to be thrown open 
to detailed discussion, paragraph by paragraph, and article by 
article, it would not be possible to pass it even through the 
House of Representatives at a single session. It is also a per- 
tinent suggestion that on such a subject as the tariff every 
member's mind is made up before consideration of the bill be- 
gins, that no member expects by his eloquence to influence 
the action of any fellow member, and therefore debate is 
wasted, so far as the theoretical purpose of debate is concerned. 
Moreover, a tariff measure is to be considered as a whole, nol^ 
acceptable in every detail to any member, not to be rendered 
acceptable to any opponent of the protection or free trade prin- 
ciple on which it may be based, by one or a dozen amend- 
ments. Consequently every hostile amendment is sure to be 
rejected. Finally, as the only practical purpose of debate in 
the House of Representatives is to influence public opinion 



6 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

outside, that purpose may be and is accomplished quite as well 
by the general "leave to print" undelivered speeches in the 
" Congressional Record, " as by giving up time to their de- 
livery. These arguments have been convincing to both the 
great parties in the country, and the practice of cutting off de- 
bate is so well established and has been so useful that it is 
not likely to be abandoned. 

The programme prepared by the Committee on Rules was 
adopted by the House and strictly carried out. " General de- 
bate" was exceedingly general, being chiefly discussion of the 
vast benefits and the unrelieved wickedness of the protective 
system. More than half the time allowed for amendments was 
occupied in the consideration of changes proposed by the 
Committee on Ways and Means, and the opposition had no 
opportunity to discuss anything but the first schedule, devoted 
to chemicals, and a few paragraphs of the glass schedule. One 
important amendment, designed to levy the duties to be im- 
posed by the bill on goods purchased and hurried into the 
country before the act should take effect, was adopted by the 
Committee of the Whole, but was thrown out by the House 
on the ground that, being retroactive, it was probably unconsti- 
tutional. An attempt was made to put on the free list articles 
the domestic production of which was controlled by " trusts," 
but the motion was defeated, yeas 148, nays 197. The bill 
was then passed, yeas 205, nays 122. Five Democrats voted 
for the bill ; three Populists only voted against it. The others, 
21 in number, answered " present." 

The history of the bill in the Senate was remarkable. As it 
passed the House of Representatives it established duties ap- 
preciably lower than those imposed by the McKinley act of 
1890. The Finance Committee of the Senate deemed even 
that scale of duties too high, and Mr. Aldrich, in explaining 
the action of the committee in proposing further reductions, 
urged that protection should be given in a moderate and con- 
servative spirit, in order to " insvire a much greater degree of 
permanence to our tariff legislation." But that policy was 
not to prevail. The " Silver Republicans " were among the 
most radical protectionists in the Senate, and they soon found 
that they held the balance of power. Indeed Mr. Jones of 
Nevada, one of them, could control the action of the Commit- 
tee on Finance by giving his vote either with the six Repub- 
licans or with the six Democrats. In these circumstances the 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 7 

Republicans both in the committee and in the Senate were 
forced to make concessions to the Silver men, with the result 
that the original policy of the committee was overthrown, the 
committee itself withdrew amendments reducing duties and of- 
fered others increasing them, and the Senate was compelled to 
agree in order to save the bill. Mr. Aldrich, whose health was 
greatly impaired by work and worry, retired from the man- 
agement of the bill, — not unwillingly, in all probability, — 
withdrew to his home, and returned only on the day the meas- 
ure was put on its passage. The vote was taken on July 7, 
and the bill was passed by yeas 38, nays 28. One Democrat 
voted for it, six Populist and Silver senators withheld their 
votes. In conference duties were raised in some cases higher 
than they had been placed by either the House or the Senate. 
The bill was signed by President McKinley on July 14. Thus 
was enacted the Dingley tariff, which was destined to remain 
in force for a longer period than any other tariff act in the his- 
tory of the government. For save for the imposition of some 
duties as a measure of war finance, during the Spanish war — 
duties which were removed after peace was restored — the act 
was unchanged until it was superseded by the tariff of 1909. 

Silver had been chosen by the Democrats as the *' para- 
mount " issue in 1896, but a question of vastly greater and more 
permanent importance was soon to be introduced. Events were 
already preparing for a contest which was to change for all 
time the^iosition of the United States in the family of nations. 
Washington's injunction against the formation of ''entangling 
alliances " with other nations had always been popularly and 
even officially interpreted as advice to hold aloof from interna- 
tional politics in any form. The Monroe Doctrine M'as not 
merely an assertion of a certain guardianship over the other 
American republics, to the extent of protecting them against 
European aggression, but it was also an expression of an inten- 
tion to discharge that self-assumed duty alone, without asking 
or permitting assistance. The only instance where there was 
any departure from that attitude was in the case of the Clay- 
ton-Bulwer treaty, which postponed rather than promoted the 
building of an isthmian canal, and which many secretaries of 
state tried in vain to abrogate. 

That the attitude of national isolation was in many respects 
beneficial to the United States, admits of no dispute. Interfer- 
ing in no controversies in which it was not directly concerned, 



8 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

it had no fear of interference or aggression by other nations, and 
was thus enabled to dispense with a great army and navy. In 
other ways that need not be specified it profited by its exemp- 
tion from the duties and the tasks which other governmentsj from 
choice or from necessity, were performing. 

But in another aspect of the matter the course of the govern- 
ment was not admirable. Students of history know that out of 
the original chaos of society, peace, order and law have been 
established. In enlightened communities every member has a 
duty to contribute his share to the maintenance of a system 
which assures protection of life and property to all, and which 
punishes malefactors and mischief-makers. Just so a commun- 
ity of nations has been gradually evolving, by no means perfect 
as yet, which more and more tends to concerted action for the 
preservation of peace, and to the curbing of reckless and aggress- 
ive sovereigns and peoples. If the citizen who refuses to bear 
his part in maintaining social order and in the support of good 
government is deemed unfaithful, what is to be said of a nation, 
boasting itself to be the freest in the world, Avhich sends mess- 
ages of encouragement to every band of insurgents in the world, 
on the plea that they are fighting for liberty, but which never 
lifts a finger to compose international quarrels, to help a weak 
neighbor attacked by an arrogant prince, or to punish violations 
of international justice ? That was practically the position of 
the United States before it was awakened to the conviction 
that to be great and powerful and rich imposed upon it the 
duty to join with other nations in maintaining the peace of the 
world. The people had no idea that impending events were to 
plunge the country into world-politics and to enforce a changed 
relation of their government toward other powers. But both 
parties were equally responsible for the course of action which 
brought about that result. 

The geographical position of the Island of Cuba, the western 
end of which penetrates the Gulf of Mexico only a few miles 
from the Florida coast, has made it always an object of interest, 
and frequently of apprehension or annoyance, to the govern- 
ment of the United States. There was a fear, during the ad- 
ministration of Mr. Monroe, that Great Britain had a design 
to acquire the island from Spain. Mr. Adams, then Secretary 
of State, wrote to Mr. Nelson, the minister to Madrid, that 
the transfer " would be an event unpropitious to the interests 
of this Union" ; and that "it is scarcely possible to resist the 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 9 

conviction that the annexation of Cuba to our Federal Repub- 
lic will be indispensable to the continuance and integrity of 
the Union itself." Jefferson shared this view to the full ex- 
tent, for about the same time he wrote to Monroe that " its 
possession by Great Britain would indeed be a great calamity 
to us," and that " her addition to our confederacy is exactly 
what is wanted to round out our power as a nation to the point 
of its utmost interest." 

For many years, indeed until the crisis came in the last 
decade of the eighteenth century, the chief interest of the 
United States in Cuba may be likened to that of a landowner 
who is put to trouble and expense in preventing his unruly 
boys from helping the sons of a neighbor to turn him out of 
his property. To be sure, during the period when the slavery 
question was at its most acute stage, the " Ostend Manifesto " 
of 1854, — declaring the right of the United States to compel 
Spain to sell the island to this country, or, on a refusal to sell 
it, to wrest it from Spain by force, — was intended as a move 
preliminary to the acquisition of more slave territory. But in 
the main the government maintained a correct diplomatic atti- 
tude, and it did not fail to take measures to prevent aid being 
sent from its ports to the frequent and prolonged insurrections. 
Such measures were not always effectual, but the United States 
was the sufferer when that was the case. The incident of the 
Virginius, during the ten years' war from 1868 to 1878, was 
an instance in point. 

A fresh insurrection broke out in 1895. It was different in 
method from any one which had preceded it, and more strongly 
supported by the Cubans, although the people of the United 
States were slow to perceive the differences. The insurgents 
overran almost the whole island, and audaciously approached 
even to the outskirts of Havana. They avoided engagements 
with large bodies of Spanish troops, but waged a successful 
guerilla Avarfare. They also set up the semblance of a govern- 
ment. From the very beginning Cuba was in a state little 
better than anarchy. Such a condition was intolerable to the 
United States. Aside from the horrors of the situation, — the 
destruction of life and -property, — this country had a most 
material interest in the struggle. American citizens were seized 
and thrown into prison by the Spanish authorities, and the 
sugar plantations which were devastated and burned over by 
the insurgent bands were largely owned by Americans. Pres- 



10 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

ident Cleveland, in his last annual message, in December, 1896, 
estimated the American investments in Cuba at from thirty to 
fifty millions. 

This is not the place to give an account of the progress of 
the rebellion, nor to mention in detail the steps, marked by 
relentless cruelty, taken by Spain to put down the rebellion. 
There were in all about one hundred and fifty thousand Span- 
ish troops in the island, but although they vastly outnumbered 
the insurrectionary forces, they were badly led and made but 
little headway. 

The insurrection attracted but little attention in the United 
States at first. To a large number of the people it seemed 
only another rising, not essentially unlike, or more important 
than, the scores of revolutions which have been a feature of 
the history of all the republics of Latin America. It was to 
them a trial, an annoyance, like that which a peaceable house- 
holder experiences when a noisy and bloody quarrel is going on 
in the next house, — something to be endured with patience 
but without interference until peace should be restored. Many 
men held this opinion to the end, and rejected every suggestion 
that in the interest of humanity, and of a quiet neighborhood, 
the disturbance must be stopped. But the great body of the 
people, of every shade of political opinion, was swept ofi" its 
feet in a burst of enthusiastic determination that the evil 
should be endured no longer. 

The growing interest in the struggle and the change in the 
popular temper are reflected in the official papers of the pres- 
idents. In December, 1895, Mr. Cleveland recognized the sym- 
pathy of his countrymen with the insurgents, but urged that 
however ardent that feeling might be it should not deter the 
government from performing scrupulously its duty to a friendly 
power by preventing any hostile acts by its own citizens. The 
tone of his message in December, 1896, was not markedly dif- 
ferent, but it contained some expressions which would have 
been inconsistent with the message of the preceding year. He 
discussed the situation in Cuba at great length, and in a spirit 
friendly to Spain, and examined, only to reject, the suggestion 
of forcible intervention. Nevertheless he added, at the conclu- 
sion " That it cannot be reasonably assumed that the hitherto 
expectant attitude of the United States will be indefinitely 
maintained," and that, "while we are anxious to accord all 
due respect to the sovereignty of Spain, we cannot view the 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 11 

pending conflict in all its features, and properly apprehend our 
inevitably close relations to it and its possible results, without 
considering that by the course of events we may be drawn into 
such an unusual and unprecedented condition as will fix a limit 
to our patient waiting for Spain to end the contest either alone 
and in her own way or with our friendly cooperation." 

The Cuban question occupied a large part of the time of the 
Fifty-fourth Congress, — the last of Mr. Cleveland's second term. 
There was a minority, not a large but an aggressive minority, 
which desired the immediate recognition of Cuban independ- 
ence ; there were many others who wished to accord belliger- 
ent rights to the insurgents. Including those two classes there 
was a large majority of members of both Houses who wished that 
something should be done to show the impatience of the Amer- 
ican people at the situation. At the first session, after a pro- 
tracted debate, a concurrent resolution was passed ^ after un- 
dergoing many changes, both in purport and in phraseology, 
declaring that a state of war existed in Cuba, that the United 
States would observe strict neutrality, and that the President 
should offer the good offices of the United States to secure the 
independence of Cuba. The form of a " concurrent resolution " 
was chosen because it did not require that the resolution should 
be submitted to the President for his approval as a "joint res- 
olution " must have been. The President's attitude was well 
known. He took no action in accordance with the advice of 
Congress at the time. Later in the year he did take a step in 
that direction. 2 His unwillingness to do anything that would 
permit the Spanish government to suppose that the United 
States government was in sympathy with the movement for 
forcible intervention, was severely criticised, by members of 
his own party more than by Republicans ; for those who were 
most determined upon a conservative course at this time were 
chiefly Republicans. The judgment of history will be that Mr. 
Cleveland's course was wise. It was something more than that, 
from a political point of view. It was eminently considerate, in 

1 Passed by the Senate, February 28, by yeas 64, nays 6; by the House of 
Representatives, March 2, by yeas 262, nays 17; conference report agreed to 
b}' the House, April 6, bj' yeas 247, nays 27; by the Senate without a division. 

2 " It was intimated by this government to the government of Spain some 
months ago that if a satisfactory measure of home rule were tendered to the 
Cuban insurgents and would be accepted by them upon a guaranty of its ex- 
ecution, the United States would endeavor to find a way not objectionable to 
Spain of furnishing such a guaranty." President's Message, December, 1896. 



12 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

that it was precisely the course which was likely to be least 
embarrassing to his successor in office. 

When the second session of the Fifty-fourth Congress began, 
in December, 1896, numerous resolutions were introduced de- 
manding that the independence of Cuba be immediately recog- 
nized. On the 19th of that month, Mr, Olney, the Secretary of 
State, caused it to be stated in the public press that the power 
and the right to recognize foreign governments was vested ex- 
clusively in the President. That contention was hotly disputed 
by the more radical advocates of Cuban independence. Early in 
January Senator Eugene Hale, of Maine, presented an ex- 
haustive historical memorandum which sustained the admin- 
istration in its position on that point. He also introduced, 
January 6, a resolution, which was passed, calling on the Secre- 
tary of State for a report on the precedents covering the matter 
of recognition of a foreign government.^ On the following day 
Mr. Mills of Texas offered a resolution, which was subsequently 
debated but never acted upon, asserting that the expediency of 
such recognition belongs to Congress ; that when Congress should 
determine in favor of recognition the executive should act in 
harmony with the legislative department; and "that the inde- 
pendence of Cuba ought to be and hereby is recognized." The 
resolution throws light upon the political situation in the clos- 
ing months of Mr. Cleveland's administration. Hardly at any 
other time in the history of the country would a leading sen- 
ator, in full and regular standing in his party, have urged a 
resolution making such a direct and aggressive attack upon a 
position held by the president chosen by that party. But, as is 
well known, the convention and the election of 1896 had left 
a breach between the President and the controlling wing of the 
Democratic party that was almost as wide as that between the 
Democrats and the Republicans. 

Both the great parties of the country, meanwhile, had ex- 
pressed themselves strongly in their national platforms on the 
subject of Cuba, The Democrats merely expressed their hearty 
sympathy with the Cubans in their struggle for independence. 
The Republicans went further, and concluded their resolution 
on the subject by urging that the government " should actively 
use its influence and good offices to restore peace and give inde- 
pendence to the island," It would not be true, nevertheless, 
to say that these expressions represented a unanimous wish of 
1 It does not appear that the inquiry was ever answered. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 13 

the people. There were still many men in public and private 
life who held that the contest was one in which it was per- 
mitted to all citizens to feel a deep sympathy with the insurg- 
ents and horror at the cruelties of the Spanish administration ; 
but that as a government the United States had neither a duty 
nor a right to dictate to Spain how it should deal with a col- 
ony in revolt. But these men did not undertake to prevent 
the adoption of the resolutions of sympathy by the national 
conventions. 

The attitude of Mr. McKinley on the Cuban question was 
not noticeably different from that of Mr. Cleveland. His in- 
structions to Mr. Woodford, the new minister to Spain, were 
conservative and conciliatory. He was " to impress upon that 
government the sincere wish of the United States to lend its 
aid toward the ending of the war in Cuba by reaching a peace- 
ful and lasting result, just and honorable alike to Spain and to 
the Cuban people," and was to represent " that at this juncture 
our government was constrained to seriously inquire if the time 
was not ripe when Spain, of her own volition, moved by her 
own interests and every sentiment of humanity, should put a 
stop to this destructive war, and make proposals of settlement 
honorable to herself and just to her Cuban colony." ^ General 
Woodford, acting upon these instructions, had the good fortune 
to deal with Sefior Sagasta, the new Prime Minister of Spain, 
who succeeded Senor Canovas, who was assassinated in August, 
1897. The new Spanish government was certainly better dis- 
posed toward Cuba and toward the United States than that 
which preceded it. The suggestions were received in an amica- 
ble spirit. The government did recall General Weyler, the 
governor-general of Cuba, whose administration had been ex- 
tremely cruel, particularly in the policy of removing the entire 
population from their rural homes and concentrating them in 
the cities and in camps. It also decreed the establishment of 
a local home rule government, and released all the Americans 
who had been in confinement. But it did not relax or propose 
to relax any military measures against the insurgents in arms 
who, in turn, spurned any concessions short of complete inde- 
pendence. In effect, therefore, the situation was unchanged. 
The war continued. The Spanish government was unable, as 
it had been from the beginning, to pacify Cuba. 

The crisis was approaching. Two events in the month of 
1 Mp-snore of December. 1897. 



14 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

February, 1898, had a most profound effect upon the people 
of the United States. On the 9th a private letter by Senor De 
Lome, the Spanish minister at Washington, Avas made public, 
in which he characterized the President as " weak and yielding 
to the rabble," and as a " bad politician." He was at once 
recalled, and his sentiments were disavowed by the Spanish 
government ; but the people were in a mood to be absolutely 
distrustful of the Spanish government. On the 10th, in con- 
sequence of this disclosure, Mr. Cannon of Illinois, since 
Speaker of the House of Representatives, introduced a resolu- 
tion urging the sending of an ultimatum to Spain, and a rec- 
ognition of the independence of Cuba before the 4th of March. 

But that incident created a mere flurry of popular excite- 
ment in comparison with the startling event which took place 
on the evening of February 15. The battleship Maine arrived 
in the port of Havana on January 25. It was sent thither after 
consultation with the Spanish government, and with the full 
consent of that government, as a mark of friendliness and good 
will. On the night of February 15 it was blown up in Havana 
harbor, and sunk, and two officers and 264 of the crew per- 
ished, as a result of the catastrophe. A court of inquiry was 
instituted, which reported that the " effect could have been 
produced only by the explosion of a mine situated under the 
bottom of the ship." 

On the whole the people of the United States received the 
intelligence of the dreadful disaster with horror rather than 
with indignation. They waited, without a general prejudge- 
ment against Spain as the author of the calamity, until the 
facts should be known. But it had already become clear that 
there was a dire prospect that forcible intervention, which 
meant war, must ensue before the questions at issue were de- 
cided; and Congress was prompt to take precautions against 
that event. On March 8 the House of Representatives by a 
unanimous vote, yeas 311, nays none, passed a bill containing 
an appropriation of fifty million dollars for national defence, 
to be at the disposal of the President, and the Senate passed 
the bill on the next day, without change or debate, and with 
equal unanimity. The President communicated the facts re- 
garding the destruction of the Maine and the finding of the 
court, in a message to Congress on March 28. The affair made 
a deep impression upon the minds of the people and greatly 
intensified the feeling that intervention in Cuba could not, 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 15 

and should not, be long delayed. That feeling was rather in- 
creased than allayed by the fact that the Spanish government 
made an inquiry of its own, the result of which was a finding 
that the explosion which caused the destruction of the battle- 
ship was from the inside, that there were no mines in Havana 
harbor, and that no responsibility for the disaster rested on 
Spain or Spaniards. 

Meantime public sentiment hostile to Spain was still further 
augmented both in volume and in intensity, by a speech made 
in the Senate on March 17, by Senator Proctor of Vermont. 
Mr. Proctor had lately returned from Cuba where he had 
made extensive observations of conditions. In particular he had 
studied the results of the Spanish treatment of the peasantry. 
He gave a harrowing account of the desolation and distress 
caused by the cruel policy of concentration, and estimated the 
loss of life during the three years of anarchy at several hun- 
dred thousand. In a short time the demand for action on the 
part of the United States to put an end to the disturbance by 
removing its cause, became overwhelming. In the popular 
view the only possible remedy was the absolute abandonment 
of Cuba by Spain. 

The tension that existed between the two governments at 
this time is illustrated by another incident. Early in March the 
Spanish minister at Washington asked that the Consul-General 
at Havana, General Fitzhugh Lee, be recalled, and that mer- 
chant vessels should be substituted for the naval vessels that 
were carrying relief to the distressed people of Cuba. Both re- 
quests were denied, and were not pressed. 

On March 23 General Woodford presented to the Spanish 
Minister of Foreign Affairs a formal statement to the effect 
that unless an agreement ensuring immediate and honorable 
peace in Cuba were reached within a short time, the President 
would be constrained to submit to the consideration of Con- 
gress the whole question of the relations between the United 
States and Spain, including the affair of the Maine. The Span- 
ish Minister replied on the 25th, asking that the report on the 
Maine should not be sent to Congress, and that the question 
of the future of Cuba should be left to diplomacy. General 
Woodford asked if Spain would grant an armistice, meantime. 
The answer of Spain to these latest propositions was received 
on April 1. It was thoroughly unsatisfactory. Although pa- 
cific in tone it contained nothing more than promises to con- 



16 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDEXCY 

sider the questions at issue at a future time. Spain would not 
object to an armistice if it were asked for by the insurgents — 
an impossible condition as was well known by both parties to 
the controversy. As for the question of the future relations 
between Spain and Cuba, that was to be committed to the 
consideration of the courts, which would not assemble until 
May. 

From the time when this reply of Spain was made public, 
war was inevitable, although the fact was not fully perceived 
or universally admitted. The President did not abandon hope. 
The pressure upon him to act instantly and vigorously, was 
tremendous. It came from both sides of the Senate and House, 
and from most of the newspapers of the country. But he ap- 
pealed to those who were demanding importunately that he 
should act at once, to permit him to work out the matter in 
his own way without interference. To a certain extent they 
complied with his request, for a time. In his desire to avoid 
war he was stoutly supported by a group of senators,^ all of 
them, it is believed, members of the Republican party. 

The imminence of war had by this time attracted the notice 
of the European governments. The Pope made a proposition 
to some of the powers that they should unite in a movement 
for mediation between the United States and Spain. The at- 
tempt failed. It is not known precisely what attitude was taken 
by the several powers, but it is known that Great Britain re- 
fused to be a party to the movement, a refusal which alone 
was fatal to it ; and the United States was averse to it, which, 
also, if the powers had come to an agreement, would have in- 
sured its failure. But on the 7th of April a deputation of the 
diplomatic representatives of foreign governments in Washing- 
ton, called upon the President, and through Sir Julian Paunce- 
fote, the British minister, expressed their hope that a peace- 
ful solution of the difficulty would be reached. The President 
made a judicious and non-committal but pacific reply, and 
that was the end of foreign mediation. 

The situation was now that which the President had in- 
formed the Spanish government would constrain him to sub- 
mit to Congress the whole question of the relations between 
the two countries. But he still hesitated, and delayed carrying 
out his announced purpose. Fearing that in the excited state 

1 Among them were Senators Allison, Aldrich, Fairbanks, Hale, Hanna, 
Piatt of Connecticut, and Spooner. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 17 

of public feeling insults and possibly physical injury would 
be suffered by his countrymen in Cuba, the President recalled 
Consul-General Lee, on April 5, and directed him to bring to 
the United States with him all American citizens who desired 
to return. Even after they had left Havana he withheld his 
message. The chances of peace and war seemed to vary from 
day to day. The Spanish ministry, urged thereto by the for- 
eign ambassadors in Madrid, decided on April 9 to grant an 
armistice to the Cuban insurgents, but took no step toward an 
agreement with the United States on the subject of the future 
control of Cuba, which was regarded at Washington as an in- 
dispensable part of a settlement. The government also caused 
it to be published that it had reached the limit of concessions 
to the United States. It therefore only remained for the Pres- 
ident to submit the whole matter to Congress. This he did in a 
message to the two Houses on April 11. 

Having given a summary account of the negotiations, he 
remarked, referring to the answer given to General Woodford 
to his ultimatum, " with this last overture in the direction of 
immediate peace, and its disappointing reception by Spain, the 
Executive is brought to the end of his effort." He assigned 
four reasons why intervention to restore peace was justifiable : 
intervention was demanded in the interest of humanity, and 
it was " no answer to say this is all in another country, be- 
longing to another nation, and is therefore none of our busi- 
ness," for "it is right at our door"; it was required for the 
protection of American citizens and property in Cuba ; it was 
justified by the injury to American commerce and business ; 
and " the present condition of affairs in Cuba is a constant 
menace to our peace, and entails upon this government an 
enormous expense." The most pregnant passage in the mess- 
age is the following paragraphs : — 

The long trial has proved that the object for which Spain has 
waged the war, cannot be attained. The fire of insurrection may 
flame or may smoulder with varying seasons, but it has not been 
and it is plain that it cannot be extinguished by present methods. 
The only hope of relief and repose from a condition which can be 
no longer endured is the enforced pacification of Cuba. In the 
name of humanity, in the name of civilization, in behalf of en- 
dangered American interests which give us the right and the duty 
to speak and to act, the war in Cuba must stop. 

In view of these facts and of these considerations I ask the Con- 



18 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

gress to authorize and empower the President to take measures 
to secure in the island the establishment of a stable government, 
capable of maintaining order and observing its international obliga- 
tions, insuring peace and tranquillity and the security of its citi- 
zens as well as our own, and to use the military and naval forces 
of the United States as may be necessary for these purposes. 

On the 13tli of April the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 
the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Foreign 
Relations of the Senate, each reported a preamble and resolu- 
tions on the subject of Cuba. The debate proceeded simultan- 
eously in both branches. The House resolution — the pream- 
ble and that of the Senate were similar in tone — was as 
follows : — 

That the President is hereby authorized and directed to inter- 
vene at once to stop the war in Cuba, to the end and with the pur- 
pose of securing permanent peace and order there and establishing 
by the free action of the people thereof a stable and independent 
government of their own in the island of Cuba. And the Pres- 
ident is hereby authorized and empowered to use the land and 
naval forces of the United States to execute the purpose of this 
resolution. 

The Democratic members of the committee, representing the 
universal sentiment within their party that there should be no in- 
ter vention without recognizing the insurgent government of Cuba, 
proposed a substitute for the foregoing resolution, namely : — 

Section 1. That the United States government hereby recog- 
nizes the independence of the republic of Cuba. 

Section 2. That, moved thereto by many considerations of hu- 
manity, of interest, and of provocation, among which are the de- 
liberate mooring of our battle-ship the ' Maine ' over a submarine 
mine, and its destruction in the harbor of Havana, the President of 
the United States be, and he is hereby, directed to employ imme- 
diately the land and naval forces of the United States in aiding the 
republic of Cuba to maintain the independence hereby recognized. 

Section 3. That the President of the United States is hereby 
authorized and directed to extend immediate relief to the starving 
people of Cuba. 

When the question was brought to a vote in the House 
substitution of the Democratic resolution was refused by yeas 
1 50, nays 190. Only thirteen members were absent when the vote 
was taken. Every Democrat and Populist and four Republicans 
voted for substitution. The negative vote was of course exclu- 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 19 

sively Republican. The majority resolution was adopted, yeas 
322, nays 19. The negative votes were given by sixteen Dem- 
ocrats, who probably so voted to express their dissatisfaction 
with the terms of the resolution, and three Kepublicaus who 
were opposed altogether to intervention. 

The Senate Committee presented its own resolution, which 
in effect was more like that of the Democratic substitute in 
the House than like the resolution which the House passed. 
The Senate was more — and ditferently — divided in sentiment 
than was the House. The opposition to immediate intervention 
was much stronger, and on the other hand there was more 
support on the Republican side to the policy of recognizing the 
insurgent government of Cuba than was the case in the House 
of Representatives. The resolution as reported by the Com- 
mittee on Foreign Relations was in the following terms : — 

First, That the people of the island of Cuba are, and of right 
ought to be free and independent. 

Second, That it is the duty of the United States to demand, and 
the government of the United States does hereby demand, that the 
government of Spain at once relinquish its authority and govern- 
ment in the island of Cuba, and withdraw its land and naval 
forces from Cuba and Cuban waters. 

Third, That the President of the United States be, and he hereby 
is, directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces 
of the United States, and to call into the actual service of the 
United States, the militia of the several states, to such an extent 
as may be necessary to carry these resolutions into effect. 

A minority of the committee, three Democrats and one Re- 
publican, while cordially approving the resolution, as far as it 
went, were in favor of a recognition of the nominal government 
of Cuba, and proposed to amend the first paragraph of the res- 
olution as printed above, by adding — 

and that the government of the United States hereby recognizes 
the republic of .Cuba as the true and lawful government of the 
island. 

After a long debate the amendment was carried by a vote of 
yeas 51 (41 Democrats and Free Silver men, 10 Republicans), 
nays 37 (33 Republicans, 4 Democrats). Without opposition 
or a division the Senate added the famous Teller clause, as 
follows : — 

Fourth, that the United States hereby disclaims any disposition 
or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over 



20 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 






said island, except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its 
determination, when that is accomplished to leave the government 
and control of the island to its people. 

Thus amended, the resolution was substituted for that of 
the House of Representatives, and was passed by a vote of 
yeas 67, nays 21. Forty-three Democrats and Populists, and 
twenty-four Republicans constituted the majority ; nineteen 
Republicans and two Democrats the minority. The opposition 
in the House to recognition of the republic of Cuba was suffi- 
ciently strong to secure a rejection of that clause of the first 
paragraph. The Committee of Conference recommended that 
the clause be omitted. Although that course was highly 
unsatisfactory to the advocates of recognition the conference 
report was agreed to by the House by yeas 311, nays 6. But 
in the Senate only three Democrats voted aye, and the result 
was yeas 42, nays 35 — all Democrats and Populists. The 
resolution finally adopted was in the form originally proposed 
by a majority of the Senate committee, with the addition of the 
Teller amendment. The President approved it on April 20. 

The resolution meant war. Probably no senator or member 
of the House doubted that when he voted, whether for or 
against it. Nor was there any doubt on that point on the part 
of the Spanish government. It had already declared, in response 
to a joint note by the ambassadors of France, Germany, Italy, 
and Russia, that it had reached the limit of concession to the 
demands and pretensions of the United States. Only eleven 
minutes after the President signed the joint resolution Senor 
Polo y Bernabe, the Spanish minister, demanded his passports. 
The resolution was cabled to Madrid, to Minister Woodford, to- 
gether with an ultimatum, allowing three days only for Spain 
to accede to the terms of the resolution, failing which he would 
proceed to act upon the authority it conferred upon him. The 
delivery of the note was purposely withheld in order to enable 
the Spanish government to act first if it should wish to do so. 
It did so wish, and accordingly sent General Woodford his 
passports. Thus diplomatic relations between the two govern- 
ments were severed, and war began. 

This is not the place to give, even in the barest outline, a 
history of the war. The events which led up to the war were 
strictly political events, but in no sense or degree partisan. They 
were of the utmost importance in changing the attitude of the 
United States toward other powers, and toward the world at 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 21 

large. But in bringing them about both parties, or rather all 
parties, shared the responsibility. They took place under a Re- 
publican administration, but the Democratic and Populist sen- 
ators and members were more eager for the conflict and more 
nearly unanimous in supporting warlike measures and threats 
than were the Republicans. Although on the final vote in the 
Senate they opposed the acceptance of the conference report 
which ensured the passage of the war resolution, they opposed 
it solely because it did not go so far as they desired. 

In January, 1893, a revolution took place in the kingdom 
of Hawaii, and Queen Liliuokalani was forced to abdicate. It 
was alleged by the Democrats that the revolution was promoted, 
was even made possible, by the landing of United States ma- 
rines, at the request of Mr. John L. Stevens, the American 
minister to the island kingdom. The accusation was denied by 
M^. Stevens and was generally held by Republicans to be false, 
although the fact that the marines were landed in Honolulu 
was not disputed. It was also not disputed that the revolution 
was in the interest of annexation of the islands to the United 
States. The leaders were all, or nearly all, Americans by birth 
or descent. Soon after the provisional government was organ- 
ized a treaty of annexation was concluded between the two 
governments, subject to the usual ratifications. It was promptly 
ratified by the Hawaiian government, but was warmly opposed 
by the Democrats of the United States, and by the members 
of that party in the Senate. One of the early acts of President 
Cleveland after taking office in 1893 was to withdraw the 
treaty from the Senate where it was pending. During the year 
or two following the withdrawal questions relating to Hawaii 
were hotly discussed by the two parties, the Democrats attack- 
ing the Republicans as being responsible for the dethronement 
of the queen, the Republicans retorting with accusations that 
the statements made by commissioners sent to Honolulu by Mr. 
Cleveland distorted the facts. Upon the accession of Mr. Mc- 
Kinley to the presidency another treaty of annexation was 
negotiated with the republican government that had been 
organized in 1894, and proclaimed on July 4 of that year, in 
succession to the provisional government. But that treaty 
encountered the opposition not only of Democratic senators,* 
but also of some influential Republicans, Although it was 
concluded and sent to the Senate on June 16, 1897, and was 
1 They were not all opposed to it. 



22 A HISTORY OF THE PKESIDENCY 

unanimously ratified by both houses of the Hawaiian legislature 
on September 10, it had not been brought to a vote in the 
United States Senate when the war with Spain broke out. It 
was feared by the advocates of the treaty that it would not 
command the necessary two-thirds vote. 

The naval battle in Manila Bay introduced a new and power- 
ful argument in favor of the annexation of Hawaii. In all^ob- 
ability no senator or congressman had any idea in the eaSy 
summer of 1898 that the United States would require a ceiSi^on 
of the Philippine Islands by Spain, or that it would accept 
sovereignty over them. But the country was engaged in oper- 
ations in the Pacific Ocean which made it imperative that it 
should be secure against hostile movements, and that advantage 
should not be taken of its entanglement with Spain to transfer 
the Hawaiian Islands to any other power. The importance of 
acting promptly was appreciated by the administration, and 'ac- 
cordingly resort was had to the method which was adopted in 
the case of Texas. On May 17, 1898. Mr. Hitt of Illinois re- 
ported from the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
Representatives a joint resolution providing that, as the gov- 
ernment of Hawaii had consented in due form to the cession 
to the United States of all rights of sovereignty over the 
islands,! the cession was " accepted, ratified and confirmed." 
The resolution covered much ground in the matter of the future 
government of the islands, and provided for commissioners to 
carry the resolution into eff"ect. The policy of annexation was 
debated with great vigor on both sides. The opposition, con- 
sisting chiefly of Democrats, argued strongly against the con- 
stitutionality of an absorption of distant territory, as well as 
against the expediency of the measure. The advocates of the 
resolution dwelt upon the predominance of American interests 
in the islands, and the danger of their conquest by Japan in 
the event of a failure by the United States to accept the cession 
when it was off'ered. A vote upon the resolution was not taken 
until June 15, when a substitute proposed by the minority was 
rejected, yeas 96, nays 204. The substitute declared that the 
United States would " regard as an act of hostility any attempt 
upon the part of any government of Europe or Asia to take or 
hold possession of the Hawaiian Islands, or to exercise upon 
any pretext or under any conditions sovereign authority there- 
in." It also announced a purpose to guarantee and maintain 

1 B}' its ratification of the treatj* of annexation, September 10, 1897. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 23 

the independence of the people of the islands. The substitute 
having been rejected, the resolution was passed, yeas 209, nays 
91. Thirty -one Democrats and Populists voted in the affirm- 
ative, and three Republicans in the negative. Otherwise it was 
a party vote. The resolution was taken up for discussion by 
the Senate on June 20, and the debate continued until July 6, 
when, many hostile amendments having been rejected, it was 
passed, yeas 42, nays 21. On this vote six Democrats and two 
Independents voted with the majority, and two Republicans 
with the minority. The President approved the joint resolution 
on June 7. The transfer took place and the flag of the United 
States was raised at Honolulu on the 12th of August. Thus, 
before the close of the Spanish war which was to carry the 
country much further in the same direction, the government 
entered upon the policy of so-called imperialism, — the sover- 
eignty over and control of distant territory inhabited by an 
alien race. 

Negotiations for the restoration of peace with Spain were 
opened on July 26 by M. Jules Cambon, the French minister 
at Washington, at the instance of the Spanish government. A 
protocol was signed by Mr. Day, Secretary of State, and M. 
Cambon on August 12. On the 26th the President appointed 
five commissioners to conclude a treaty of peace with an equal 
number of commissioners on the part of Spain. They met in 
Paris on October 1, but it was not until December 10 that the 
treaty was drawn up and signed. The Spanish commissioners 
found many of the demands inadmissible, and protested strongly 
against their harshness, but the President was unyielding, and 
in the end the Spanish government was forced to accept the 
terms imposed on it. 

Nearly a full month was occupied in contention over the 
question of the future of the Philippine Islands, which had 
been left open in the protocol. ^ It became known during the 
discussion of the treaty that the instructions of the President 
to the commissioners had been that they were to demand the 
cession of the island of Luzon only. But it seemed to the com- 
missioners that there were grave objections to that course, and 
upon their recommendation the President authorized them to 

1 The third article of the protocol was as follows: "That the United States 
will occupy and hold the city, bay and harbor of Manila, pending the conclu- 
sion of a treat}' of peace which shall determine the control, disposition and 
government of the Philippines." 



24 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

require the cession of the entire group of islands. The decision 
was a momentous one, for it introduced a fundamental change 
in the character of the government, and will affect its history 
in all future time. 

Prior to the time when the demand for the cession of the 
whole archipelago was made there seems to have been practi- 
cally no public opinion in the country favorable to the acqui- 
sition, and no expectation that it would be made a condition of 
peace. The President himself acceded to the representations of 
the commissioners with reluctance. The problem before him 
was most difficult. The acquisition of Luzon alone, it was easy 
to see, was not a solution. It would weaken Spain, and prob- 
ably give over the other islands of the group to anarchy ; and 
would not strengthen the United States materially. The only 
really available solutions were to take the whole of the islands 
or none. The decision to take the whole came as a surprise to 
the people, and found a large number of them either instantly 
hostile to the enterprise or quite unprepared to defend it. An 
examination of the political platforms adopted at the State 
conventions in 1898 shows that in only two States did the 
Eepublicans favor the acquisition of the Philippines.-^ Many of 
the conventions approved the annexation of Hawaii, but New 
York and Tennessee only favored that of the Philippines. The 
Massachusetts Republicans hoped that the negotiations would 
" be so conducted and terminated as to secure to the Philippine 
Islands and to Cuba in amplest measure the blessings of liberty 
and self-government." 

The opponents of the Philippine policy were first in the 
field. Early in November, 1898, an Anti-Imperialist League 
was formed in Boston. Its principles were opposition to wars 

1 New York Republican convention: " We realize that when the necessities 
of war compelled our nation to destroy Spanish authority in the Antilles'and 
in the Philippines we assumed solemn duties and responsibilities alike to the 
people of the islands we conquered and to the civilized world. We cannot turn 
these islands back to Spain. We cannot leave them, unarmed for defence and 
untried in statecraft, to the horrors of domestic strife or to partition among 
European Powers. We have assumed the responsibilities of vietorj', and wher- 
ever our flag has gone there the libertj', the humanitj' and the civilization 
which that flag embodies and represents must remain and abide forever." 

Tennessee Republican convention: "We declare in favor of the annexation 
of Porto Rico and all the West Indian islands, and ultimate annexation of 
Cuba by the free suffrage of the people of the island, and such islands of the 
Philippines and other islands that mav procure to the United States the trade 
and commerce of those islands and the good government of their people." 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 25 

of conquest and to the acquisition of any colonial dependencies, 
and a rigid adherence to the doctrine of the Declaration of 
Independence that governments derive their just powers from 
the consent of the governed. The venerable George S, Bout- 
well, formerly Secretary of the Treasury under General Grant, 
was the president of the League, which had members in many 
States of the Union. They included a certain number of Re- 
publicans, but were for the most part men who had participated 
in the mugwump movement of 1884 and subsequent years. 

Undoubtedly a great majority of those who ultimately de- 
fended the Philippine annexation policy were convinced of its 
wisdom, even of its necessity, against their will. There were, 
it is true, a great many persons who welcomed it from a senti- 
ment which is akin to patriotism, — from a feeling that the 
possession of distant territory, of colonies, increases the grandeur 
and importance of the nation, and that the lowering of the flag 
where once it had been raised even for an hour implies national 
humiliation. But the real strength of the policy was in some- 
thing far different from chauvinism. A serious consideration 
of the actual condition of affairs in the Philippines led them to 
pause before " turning them back to Spain," — the phrase of the 
New York Republicans. Like Cuba, the islands had been in a 
chronic state of disorder and insurrection. To abandon them was 
to increase the evil. The hold upon them by Spain, weak at 
the best, would have been weakened by the defeat that country 
had sustained. The outlook was anarchy or a despotism, pro- 
bably to be followed by conquest by Japan or some European 
power, which would exploit the islands for its own enrichment. 
On the other hand the United States was responsible for de- 
stroying the authority of Spain, and it thereby came under an 
obligation not to make worse the bad condition of the islands. 

To all this those who took the anti-imperialist view had a 
ready answer. To assume sovereignty over an alien race by 
the purchase of their territory ^ was a distinct denial of the 
principles of the Declaration of Independence ; it was a sufficient 
discharge of the national duty to treat the islands as Congress 
had agreed to treat Cuba, namely, to enable the people to form 
a government of their own ; the ** white man's burden " was a 
burden self-assumed, and the altruistic motives professed by 
those who advocated the acquisition, were a pretence. Moreover, 

1 By the treaty the United States was to pay twenty million dollars to Spain 
reallj', though not in terms, for the cession of the Philippines. 



26 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

the success of the policy would involve the country in enormous 
expenditures ; it would demand a great increase in military 
and naval forces; it would lead to " entangling alliances " with 
other powers, which the people, warned by Washington, had 
avoided for more than a century. These are but a few of the 
arguments they urged, — and if, in this summary, they seem to 
be phrased too broadly, the limits of space to put them as they 
did, ipsissiviis verbis, may fairly be pleaded. In rejoinder 
those who supported the President and the commissioners made 
the point that the alternative policy of the anti-imperialists, 
the organization of a native government in the Philippines 
was grotesquely impracticable, as the natives were incapable of 
governing themselves. 

The treaty was delivered to the President on the 24th of 
December, but as Congress was not then in session it was not 
sent to the Senate until January 4. Although the text of the 
agreement was not made public until a week later the terms 
were accurately known and the open opposition to it had begun. 
Mr. Bryan, who held the rank of colonel in the army during 
the war, took the position of favoring the ratification of the 
treaty, but at the same time arguing against expansion and im- 
perialism. In an interview on December 13 he held that rati- 
fication was advisable on the ground that otherwise the two 
countries would still be nominally in a state of war, and that 
a renewal of negotiations would postpone unduly the declaration 
of peace. With respect to Porto Rico he would have the people 
freely decide Avhether or not they would be annexed to the 
United States. The Philippines were "too far away," and 
the country could not afford to accept them. Moreover, if the 
people of the United States were entitled to self-government, 
so were the Filipinos. This view was not approved by the Dem- 
ocrats in general, but the authority with which Mr. Bryan 
spoke undoubtedly had much influence with some of the Dem- 
ocratic senators, and ensured the ratification of the treaty. A 
debate sprang up in the Senate before the treaty was submitted 
to it. Several of the Democratic senators strongly opposed the 
policy of expansion beyond the sea, and argued that no consti- 
tutional power existed to authorize the acquisition of distant 
and detached territory. 

After the treaty was received the subject was debated both 
in open Senate and in secret session for a full month. Under 
instruction by the President General Otis, commanding in the 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 27 

Philippines, issued a proclamation to the people setting forth 
the benevolent intentions of the government and people of the 
United States tovvard them. The proclamation was hotly re- 
sented by the Filipinos who acknowledged the leadership of 
Aguinaldo. Aguinaldo had been a leader of insurgents in a 
former rebellion, and at the outbreak of the Spanish-American 
war was living at Hong-Kong. He returned to the Philippines 
under a certain arrangement with an American consul, to assist 
in the destruction of the Spanish control of the islands. He 
maintained that he was assured that the Americans would turn 
over the archipelago to the natives after conquest. Manifestly 
no person was authorized to give such an assurance, and the 
United States would not be bound by it if it were given. That 
fact, however, might well not be grasped by Aguinaldo, and 
the result of the misconception of the power of a consul was 
mischievous in the extreme. Aguinaldo and his followers would 
not be appeased. They insisted upon a course of action to which 
the United States could not consent. Such at least was the 
opinion of the President and his supporters. He and they had 
reluctantly taken the sovereignty of the Philippines, so they 
declared, not with any purpose of territorial and colonial ag- 
grandizement, but solely because that seemed the only way to 
save the islands from anarchy, — not from a wish to govern 
them, but from a sense of duty. The opponents of the treaty 
derided and disbelieved the assertion, and maintained that the 
real motive was a desire for national expansion, — a manifes- 
tation of a mad passion for national glory, to be satisfied by a 
denial of all the fine principles on which the government had 
always before been conducted. 

There were frequent conferences between the military au- 
thorities at Manila and Aguinaldo, but in the circumstances 
an agreement was impossible. In the evening of Saturday, Feb- 
ruary 4, 1899, a determined and concerted attack was made by 
the Filipinos upon the American forces. That was the beginning 
of a long, bloody and exasperating struggle, upon the course 
and incidents of which it is unnecessary to enter in this place. 
Undoubtedly it affected public opinion at home. The enterprise 
of reducing to subjection alien peoples, who seemed to be fight- 
ing for liberty and the right of self-government, was extremely 
obnoxious to a large number of citizens, perhaps to a large 
majority of them, including a great many who strongly sup- 
ported the administration and its war policy. Those of that 



28 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

class held that the natives of the islands were incapahle of self- 
government, that Aguinaldo and his supporters were self-ap- 
pointed leaders who at best represented but a small fraction 
of one race out of many in the Philippines, and that it would 
be a humiliation to the United States and a base shirking of 
duty to abandon the islands, in the face of hostilities, to in- 
surgents who possessed so little authority. 

But the outbreak of hostilities made it certain that the treaty 
would be ratified. The Senate came to a vote on Monday, the 
6th, and the necessary two-thirds vote was obtained for ratifi- 
cation, — yeas 57, nays 27. Sixteen Democrats and Populists 
joined with forty -one Republicans in the affirmative. Two Re- 
publicans were with twenty-five Democrats and Populists in 
the negative. In spite of the cross-voting on this division the 
question of " imperialism," as the policy of expansion was de- 
nominated by its opponents, was to be the " paramount " issue 
in the ensuing presidential election ; yet on neither side of the 
division did any senator who had dissented from the action of 
a majority of his own party, separate from them in the canvass 
of 1900. Some of the Democratic senators were avowedly in 
favor of the expansion. Others endeavored to procure the pass- 
age of a resolution — offered by one of them — declaring the 
purpose of the United States to oversee the organization of a 
stable government in the Philippines by the natives, and to 
turn the islands over to that government, following the course 
it was proposed to pursue in the case of Cuba. Although the 
resolution was debated at some length it was never brought to 
a vote. A mild, non-committal resolution was passed after the 
treaty was ratified. Although the opponents of the Philippine 
policy made many efforts to secure an amendment, pledging the 
government to give the Filipinos independence, all such propo- 
sitions were rejected, and the resolution as passed went no 
further than to promise such disposition of the islands as 
should be best for the natives and the interest of the United 
States. 

The election of the Fifty-sixth Congress took place in No- 
vember, 1898. It was entirely unaffected by any question of 
imperialism, since there was practically no opposition, certainly 
no partisan opposition, to the acquisition of Porto Rico, and 
the intention to demand a cession of the Philippines had hardly 
taken definite shape in the mind of the President, and was 
wholly unknown by the people. The issue in the election was 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 29 

chiefly on the silver question. Although the Republican ma- 
jority in the House of Representatives vv^as reduced, the actual 
majority against the free coinage ol silver was increased.^ The 
House of Representatives of the Fifty-fifth Congress would 
have passed an act establishing the gold standard, but there 
was a majority in favor of silver free coinage in the Senate, — 
a majority probably of eight or ten. But the election of sen- 
ators by the State legislatures in the winter of 1898-99 changed 
the complexion of the Senate completely. No less than eight 
silver men were replaced by advocates of the gold standard, and 
there was no change in the opposite direction. 

The President in his annual message to Congress, December 5, 
1899, gave the first place to a consideration of the financial 
condition of the government, and the opportunity to make se- 
cure the gold standard of value. He wrote : — 

While there is now no commercial fright which withdraws gold 
from the government, but, on the contrary, such widespread con- 
fidence that gold seeks the Treasury demanding paper money in 
exchange, yet the very situation points to the present as the most 
fitting time to make adequate provision to insure the continuance 
of the gold standard and of public confidence in the ability and 
purpose of the government to meet all its obligations in the 
money which the civilized world recognizes as the best. The finan- 
cial transactions of the government are conducted on a gold basis. 
We receive gold when we sell United States bonds, and use gold 
for their payment. 

The Republicans were resolved to use the opportunity to 
carry out one of the pledges in their national platform of 1896, 
which it was not possible to do in the preceding Congress. The 
very first bill introduced in either House was presented by Mr. 
Overstreet of Indiana, — "To define and fix the standard of 
value, to maintain the parity of all forms of money issued or 
coined by the United States, and for other purposes." It made 
" the dollar consisting of 25.8 grains of gold, nine-tenths fine " 
the standard of value. It was a long bill, and dealt with many 
other branches of the financial question, but the declaration 
that gold was the standard, and the pledge that all forms of 
money should be maintained at par with gold, were the chief 
points in the contest that followed. 

1 The House in the Fifty-fifth Congress consisted of 207 Republicans, 122 
Democrats, 21 Populists, 3 Silverites, 3 Fusion, and there was one vacancy. 
In the Fifty-Sixth Congress there were 186 Republicans, 162 Democrats, 
7 Populists, and 2 Silverites. 



30 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

The bill was not referred to a committee, but on December 8, 
four days after it was introduced, the Committee on Rules 
brought in a special rule, w,hich was adopted, allowing general 
debate on the bill from the 11th until the loth, debate under 
the five minute rule on the 16th, and requiring the bill to be 
brought to a vote immediately after the reading of the journal 
on Monday the 18th. The programme was carried out strictly. 
The debate was conducted on party lines, and all the arguments 
on either side of the question were rehearsed and repeated by 
scores of members. At the close of the period assigned for con- 
sideration of the measure, all propositions of a hostile character 
having been defeated, the bill was passed, yeas 190, nays 150. 
Save that eleven Democrats ^ voted for the bill, the division 
was strictly on party lines. But a certain number of Democrats 
who were known to be opponents of free silver and advocates 
of the single gold standard, voted against the bill because it 
contained provisions to which they entertained objections. The 
bill was more fully considered in detail in the Senate. It was 
referred in that body to the Committee on Finance, which re- 
ported a substitute, containing provision for the refunding of 
the national debt. A prolonged debate came to an end on Feb- 
ruary 15, 1900, and the bill was passed, yeas 46, nays 29. 
Two Democrats voted in the affirmative and one Republican 
in the negative. It was not until March 13 that the conference 
report was adopted by both branches of Congress. The Pres- 
ident approved the bill on the 14th. 

In one respect the situation at the beginning of the presi- 
dential canvass of 1900 was without precedent since the adop- 
tion of the convention system. The candidate for President of 
each of the two great parties was designated in advance, with- 
out the semblance of opposition. After Jack*on, who was 
elected for his second term without a formal nomination, only 
four presidents had been nominated for a second term. In the 
cases of Van Buren, Lincoln and Grant the choice of the op- 
posing candidate was not predetermined ; and the nominations 
of Cleveland and Harrison in 1888, although anticipated con- 
fidently, met with strong opposition. But in 1900, and even 
two years earlier, the selection of McKinley and Bryan to lead 
their respective parties again was seen to be inevitable. The 

1 Eight New York members^ and one each from Maryland, Massachusetts, 
and Pennsylvania. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 31 

President had not taken a course acceptable to all those who 
supported him in 1896, but the dissenters were comparatively 
few, and were not generally men whose influence would be 
perceptible in the choice of delegates to the national conven- 
tion. The vast majority of the party regarded the administra- 
tion as eminently successful and worthy of support, and Mr. 
McKinley was personally extremely popular. Some of his pre- 
decessors in office had been compelled to encounter the opposi- 
tion of leaders of their own party by reason of their lack of the 
quality which enables men to be on terms of personal friend- 
ship with political friends and foes. 

Mr. Bryan developed such a capacity for leadership in the 
canvass of 1896 that it was natural for him to continue in the 
position of leader after his defeat. Not only so, but it was 
natural for his followers in that canvass to accept his leader- 
ship. No other defeated candidate had ever assumed such 
authority. To no other had such authority been conceded. 
The Democrats, after the election of 1840, announced their 
intention of electing Van Buren in 1844, but they did not 
look to him for political advice, nor follow his advice on the 
few occasions when he gave it. Tilden and Blaine who Avere not 
elected, and Harrison and Cleveland who were defeated after 
a first term, were all more or less qualified to take upon them- 
selves a measure of authority in guiding their party, but not 
one of them sought or exercised a tithe of the influence that 
Mr. Bryan held, with the full consent of an overwhelming ma- 
jority of the Democrats. During the whole period between the 
election of 1896 and the convention of 1900, his nomination 
was never for a moment in doubt. 

There was far less assurance as to the result of the coming 
election. An issue completely new had been injected into na- 
tional politics. On the Democratic side, under the leadership 
of Mr. Bryan, a determination was expressed, in case the party 
should obtain the power, to reverse the action of the adminis- 
tration with respect to the Philippines — to dispossess the 
United States of the sovereignty of the islands by setting up 
a native government. The war which the United States was 
waging to reduce those natives to subjection was denounced 
in unmeasured terms. The Republicans maintained that the 
country was under an obligation to civilization not to permit 
the Philippines to lapse into anarchy, which they were sure 
would be the result of the Democratic policy, and that the 



32 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

restoration of authority and order by a suppression of the re- 
bellion was an indispensable preliminary even to the establish- 
ment of self-government in the islands, w^ere that to be the 
purpose of the United States. 

The question of the time was how far the new issue would 
cause secession from the ranks of either party. Some of the 
strongest, most earnest and most energetic anti-imperialists 
were lifelong Republicans. The Spanish treaty had been 
strenuously opposed in Congress by such well known and in- 
fluential men as Senators Hoar and Hale and Mr. Speaker 
Keed. Their views on the subject of taking and governing 
distant territory and alien races were shared by many of their 
fellow members of the party ; but, as it ultimately became 
evident, the sentiment developed chiefly in New England and 
the Middle States. Moreover, not one of the leaders named 
proposed to leave his party and support Mr. Bryan. His con- 
tinued outspoken advocacy of free silver coinage made him, 
for them, an impossible candidate. They hoped that in the 
end their own party would adopt their view and treat the 
Filipinos in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of 
Independence. On the other hand a period of great prosperity 
throughout the country had rendered a large number of those 
who in 1896 had looked to the free coinage of silver as a cure 
of the prevailing hard times, quite indifi'erent to the application 
of that remedy. Consequently a return to allegiance to the 
Republican party by many men in the so-called Silver States, 
was confidently expected. Finally, there were many Democrats 
who upheld the policy of expansion, but they were not ex- 
pected to vote for Mr. McKinley, — certainly not in large 
numbers. But the issue on which the canvass was avowedly 
to be made was so new that the result could not be predicted 
with confidence. 

As has usually been the case the new parties — those which are 
based on dissent from the principles of both the leading parties, and 
those which deem most important other reforms than those which 
are in the minds of Democrats and Republicans — were earliest 
in the field. The first step in the canvass was taken at the fourth 
annual session of the Supreme Council of the Farmers' Alliance 
and Industrial Union, which was held at Washington on Feb- 
ruary 6 and the two following days. The Council pledged the 
support of the Alliance to the Candidates to be nominated by 
the Democrats, and adopted the following platform': — 



*« IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 33 

Whereas, The Declaration of Independence, as a basis of a republi- 
can form of government that might be progessive and perpetual, holds 
" That all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain 
inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pur- 
suit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are insti- 
tuted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of 
the governed," 

We hold, therefore, that to restore and preserve these rights un- 
der a republican form of government, private monopolies of public 
necessities for speculative purposes, whether of the means of pro- 
duction, distribution or exchange, should be prohibited, and when- 
ever such public necessity or utility becomes a monopoly in private 
hands, the people of the municipality, State or Union, as the case 
may be, shall appropriate the same by right of eminent domain, 
paying a just value therefor, and operate them for and in the in- 
terest of the whole people. 

We demand a National currency, safe, sound and flexible ; issued 
by the general Government only, a full legal tender for all debts 
and receivable for all dues, and an equitable and efficient means of 
distribution of this currency, directly to the people, at the mini- 
mum of expense and without the intervention of banking corpora- 
tions and in sufficient volume to transact the business of the coun- 
try on a cash basis. 

We demand the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at 
the legal ratio of 16 to 1. 

We demand a graduated income tax. 

That our National legislation shall be so framed in the future as 
not to build up one industry at the expense of another. 

We believe that the money of the country should be kept as 
much as possible in the hands of the people, and hence we demand 
that all National and State revenues shall be limited to the neces- 
sary expenses of the Government economically and honestly ad- 
ministered. 

We demand that postal savings banks be established by the Gov- 
ernment for the safe deposit of the savings of the people, and to 
facilitate exchange. 

We are unalterably opposed to the issue by the United States of 
interest-bearing bonds, and demand the payment of all coin obli- 
gations of the United States, as provided by existing laws, in either 
gold or silver coin, at the option of the Government and not at the 
option of the creditor. 

The Government shall purchase or construct and operate a suf- 
ficient mileage of railroads to effectually control all rates of trans- 
portation on a just and equitable basis. 

The telegraph and telephone, like the postoffice system, being a 



34 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

necessity for the transmission of intelligence, should be owned and 
operated by the Government in the interest of the people. 

We demand that no laud shall be held by corporations for spec- 
ulative purposes or by railroads in excess of their needs as carriers, 
and all lands now owned by aliens should be reclaimed by the 
Government and held for actual settlers only. 

We demand the election of United States Senators by a direct 
vote of the people ; that each State shall be divided into two dis- 
tricts of nearly equal voting population, and that a Senator from 
each shall be elected by the people of the district. 

Relying upon the good common sense of the American people, 
and believing that a majority of them, when uninfluenced by party 
prejudice, will vote right on all questions submitted to them on 
their merits ; and further to effectually annihilate the pernicious 
lobby in legislation, we demand direct legislation by means of the 
initiative referendum. We demand free mail delivery in the rural 
districts. We demand that the inhabitants of all the territory com- 
ing to the United States as a result of the war with Spain be as 
speedily as possible permitted to organize a free government of 
their own, based upon the consent of the governed. 

In January, 1900, a convention of the Social Democratic 
party was held at Rochester, New York, and a committee was 
appointed to attend the convention of the Social Democratic 
party to be held at Indianapolis on March 6, for the purpose 
of effecting a union of the two parties. The Indianapolis con- 
vention appointed a similar committee, and at a joint meeting 
of the two committees held in New York on March 26 a plan 
of union was agreed upon, to be submitted to the two parties. 
The plan was adopted on June 10, and at Chicago, on Septem- 
ber 29, the ticket nominated at the Indianapolis convention in 
March, and the platform then adopted, were both ratified. By 
this action Eugene V. Debs, of Illinois, became the candidate 
of the amalgamated party for President, and Job Harriman, of 
California, was the candidate for Vice-President. The platform 
of the party, which retained the name " Social Democratic," 
was as follow^s : — 

The Social Democratic party of the United States, in convention 
assembled, reaffirms its allegiance to the revolutionary principles 
of International Socialism and declares the supreme political issue 
in America to-day to be the contest between the working class and 
the capitalist class for the possession of the powers of government. 
The party affirms its steadfast purpose to use those powers, once 
achieved, to destroy wage slavery, abolish the institution of pri- 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 35 

vate property in the means of production, and establish the coop- 
erative Commonwealth. 

In the United States, as in all other civilized countries, the nat- 
ural order of economic development has separated society into two 
antagonistic classes — the capitalists, a comparatively small class, 
the possessors of all the modern means of production and distribu- 
tion (land, mines, machinery and meaiTs of transportation and 
communication), and the large and ever increasing class of wage 
workers, possessing no means of production. This economic su- 
premacy has secured to the dominant class the full control of the 
government, the pulpit, the schools, and the public press ; it has 
thus made the capitalist class the arbiter of the fate of the work- 
ers, whom it is reducing to a condition of dependence, economic- 
ally exploited and oppressed, intellectually and physically crippled 
and degraded, and their political equality rendered a bitter mock- 
ery. The contest between these two classes grows ever sharper. 
Hand in hand with the growth of monopolies goes the annihilation 
of small industries and of tlie middle class depending upon them ; 
ever larger grows the multitude of destitute wage workers and of 
the unemployed, and ever fiercer the struggle between the class 
of the exploiter and the exploited, the capitalists and the wage 
workers. 

The evil effects of capitalist production are intensified by the 
recurring industrial crises wliich render the existence of the greater 
part of the population still more precarious and uncertain. These 
facts amply prove that the modern means of production have out- 
grown the existing social order based on production for profit. 
Human energy and natural resources are wasted for individual gain. 
Ignorance is fostered that wage slavery may be perpetuated. Science 
and invention are perverted to the exploitation of men, women, 
and children. The lives and liberties of the working class are 
recklessly sacrificed for profit. Wars are fomented between nations ; 
indiscriminate slaughter is encouraged ; the destruction of whole 
races is sanctioned, in order that the capitalist class may extend its 
commercial dominion abroad and enhance its supremacy at home. 

The introduction of a new and higher order of society is the his- 
toric mission of the working class. All other classes, despite their 
apparent or actual conflicts, are interested in upholding the system 
of private ownership in the means of production. The Demo- 
cratic, Republican, and all other parties which do not stand for the 
complete overthrow of the capitalist system of production are 
alike the tools of the capitalist class. Their policies are injurious 
to the interest of the working class, which can be served only by 
the abolition of the profit system. The workers can most effectively 
act as a class in their struggle against the collective power of the 



36 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

capitalist class only by constituting themselves into a political 
party, distinct and opposed to all parties formed by the propertied 
classes. 

We, therefore, call upon the wage workers of the United States, 
without distinction of color, race, sex, or creed, and upon all citi- 
zens in sympathy with the historic mission of the working class, 
to organize under the banner of the Social Democratic party, as a 
party truly representing the interests of the toiling masses and un- 
compromisingly waging war upon the exploiting class, until the 
system of wage slavery shall be abolished and the cooperative 
Connnonwealth shall be set up. Pending the accomplishment of 
this our ultimate purpose, we pledge every effort of the Social 
Democratic party for the immediate improvement of the condition 
of labor and for the securing of its progressive demands. 

As steps in that direction, we make the following demands : 

First — Revision of our Federal Constitution, in order to remove 
the obstacles to complete control of government by the people, ir- 
respective of sex. 

Second — The public ownership of all industries controlled by 
monopolies, trusts and combines. 

Third — The public ownership of all railroads, telegraphs and 
telephones ; all means of transportation ; all watei'works, gas and 
electric plants, and other public utilities. 

Fourth — The public ownership of all gold, silver, copper, lead, 
iron, coal and other mines, and all oil and gas wells. 

Fifth — The reduction of the hours of labor in proportion to 
the increasing facilities of production. 

Sixth — The inauguration of a system of public works and im- 
provements for the employment of the unemployed, the public 
credit to be utilized for that purpose. 

Seventh — Useful inventions to be free, the inventors to be re- 
munerated by the public. 

Eighth — Labor legislation to be National, instead of local, and 
international when possible. 

Ninth — National insurance of working people against acci- 
dents, lack of employment, and want in old age. 

Tenth — Equal civil and political rights for men and women, 
and the abolition of all laws discriminating against women. 

Eleventh — The adoption of the initiative and referendum, pro- 
portional representation, and the right of recall of representatives 
by the voters. 

Twelfth — Abolition of war and the introduction of international 
arbitration. 

As early as January, 1900, the national committee of the 
Union Reform party, an organization which had no visible ex- 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 37 

istence at the preceding election, sent out ballots to members 
of the party asking them to express their preference for candi- 
dates for President and Vice-President. The ballots were re- 
turned in February and March, and in April the committee 
reported that the choice had fallen upon Seth H. Ellis, of Ohio, 
for President, and Samuel T. Nicholson, of Pennsylvania, for 
Vice-President. The number of votes given to them was not 
announced. The platform on which the party went to the polls 
had been previously adopted at a convention held at Cincinnati 
in March, 1899. As will be seen it had but a single plank, 
which was to be found in the platform of more than one of the 
other minor parties. It was as follows : — 

Direct legislation under the system known as the initiative and 
referendum. Under the " initiative " the people can compel the 
submission to themselves of any desired law, when, if it receives a 
majority of the votes cast, it is thereby enacted. Under the " refer- 
endum '■ the people can compel the submission to themselves of any 
law which has been adopted by any legislative body, when, if such 
law fails to receive a majority of the votes cast, it will be thereby 
rejected. 

Agreeably to a call issued at Chicago in December 1899, a 
convention of the United Christian party was held at Rockford, 
Illinois, on May 1, 1900. Delegates Avere present from Colorado, 
Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Montana, and possibly from other 
States. As nearly as can be ascertained from the newspapers of 
the time they numbered thirty-one in all. Mr. W. H. Benkert, 
of Iowa, was the chairman. The convention nominated Rev. 
Silas C. Swallow, of Pennsylvania, for President, and John G. 
Woolley, of Illinois, for Vice-President. They both withdrew 
and Jonah F. R. Leonard, of Iowa, and David H. Martin, of 
Pennsylvania, were nominated for the two offices respectively. 
The platform adopted was as follows : — 

We, the United Christian party, in national convention assem- 
bled, acknowledging Almighty God as the source of all power and 
authority, the Lord Jesus Christ as the sovereign ruler of nations, 
and the Bible as the standard by which to decide moral issues in 
our political life, do make the following declaration : — 

We believe the time to have arrived when the eternal principles 
of justice, mercy and love as exemplified in the life and teachings 
of Jesus Christ should be embodied in the Constitution of our Na- 
tion and applied in concrete form to every function of our Govern- 
ment. 



38 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

We deprecate certain immoral laws which have grown out of the 
failure of our Nation to recognize these principles, notably such as 
require the desecration of the Christian Sabbath, authorize un- 
scriptural marriage and divorce, license the manufacture and sale 
of intoxicating liquors as a beverage, and permit the sale of cigar- 
ettes or tobacco in any form to minors. As an expression of con- 
sent or allegiance on the part of the governed, in harmony with the 
above statements, we declare for the adoption and use of the system 
of direct legislation known as the " initiative and referendum," to- 
gether with " proportionate representation " and the " imperative 
mandate." 

We hold that all men and women are created free and with equal 
rights, and declare for the establishment of such political, indus- 
trial and social conditions as shall guarantee to every person civic 
equality, the full fruits of his or her honest toil, and opportunity 
for the righteous enjoyment of the same ; and we especially con- 
demn mob violence and outrages against any individual or class of 
individuals in our country. 

We declare against war and for the arbitration of all National 
and international disputes. We hold that the legalized liquor traffic 
is the crowning infamy of civilization, and we declare for the im- 
mediate abolition of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating 
liquors as a beverage. We are gratified to note the widespread agi- 
tation of the cigarette question, and declare ourselves in favor of 
the enactment of laws prohibiting the sale of cigarettes or tobacco 
in any form to minors. 

AVe declare for the daily reading of the Bible in the public 
schools and institutions of learning under control of the State. 

We declare for the Government ownership of public utilities. 

We declare for the election of the President and Vice-President 
and United States Senators by the direct vote of the people. 

We declare for such amendment of the United States Consti- 
tution as shall be necessary to give the principles herein set 
forth an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of our 
land. 

We invite into the United Christian party every honest man and 
woman who believes in Christ and His golden rule and standard 
of righteousness. 

The Populist party, which became divided into two factions 
in 1896, consisting of those who favored a complete fusion with 
the Democrats, so far as a support of the candidates of that 
party were concerned, and those who favored a " middle-of-the 
road," that is, an independent policy, continued to be divided 
in 1900. The two wings of the party held conventions on the 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 39 

same day, May 9, — the Fusionists at Sioux Falls, South Da- 
kota, and the " Middle-of-the-Road " faction at Cincinnati. 

Mr. P. M. Kingdahl, of Minnesota, presided over the Sioux 
Falls convention. There was no opposition whatever to the 
nomination of Mr, Bryan as a candidate for President, but 
there was much dissension over the question of making a nom- 
ination for Vice-President. Those who regarded it as of great 
importance not to take action that would embarrass the Demo- 
crats, were opposed to the plan of making a nomination. On the 
other hand it was urged that by making a nomination the party 
would emphasize the fact of its separate and independent exist- 
ence, and that the Democratic convention might, in order to 
secure the full support of the Populists, adopt the candidate 
selected by them. A motion to defer the nomination was de- 
feated by 496 to 492 votes. Although the convention was at- 
tended by a large number of delegates, it should not be sup- 
posed that 988 persons were actually present. The delegates 
from any State, few or many, were allowed to cast all the votes 
to which that State would be entitled if the representation were 
full. As Mr. Bryan had already been nominated by acclamation 
the convention proceeded to the nomination of a candidate for 
Vice-President. Several gentlemen whose names had been pre- 
sented having withdrawn, Mr. Charles A. Towne, of Minnesota, 
was nominated, also by acclamation. On August 8, after the 
Democratic national convention, Mr. Towne withdrew, and the 
support of the Fusionist Populists was given to the whole 
Democratic ticket. The following platform was adopted : — 

Resolved, That we denounce the act of March 14, 1900, as the cul- 
mination of a long series of conspiracies to deprive the people of 
their constitutional rights over the money of the nation, and rele- 
gate to a gigantic money trust the control of the purse, and hence 
of the people. We denounce this act, flrst, for making all money 
obligations, domestic and foreign, payable in gold coin or its equi- 
valent, thus enormously fncreasing the burdens of the debtors and 
enriching the creditors. Second, for refunding coin bonds not to 
mature for years into long-time gold bonds, so as to make their 
payment improbable and our debt perpetual. Third, for taking from 
the Treasury over $50,000,000 in a time of war and presenting it 
as a premium to bond holders to accomplish the refunding of 
bonds not due. Fourth, for doubling the capital of bankers by re- 
turning them the face value of their bonds in current money notes, 
so that they may draw one interest from the government and an- 



40 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

other from the people. Fifth, for allowing banks to expand and 
contract their circulation at pleasure, thus controlling prices of all 
products. Sixth, for authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to 
issue new gold bonds to an unlimited amount whenever he deems 
it necessary to replenish the gold hoard, thus enabling usurers to 
secure more bonds and more bank currency by drawing gold from 
the Treasury, thereby creating an endless chain for perpetually 
adding to a perpetual debt. Seventh, for striking down the green- 
back in order to force the people to borrow $346,000,000 more from 
the banks at an annual cost of over .120,000,000. 

While barring out the money of the Constitution, this law opens 
the printing mints of the Treasury to the free coinage of bank pa- 
per money, to enrich the few and impoverish the many. We pledge 
anew the People's party never to cease the agitation until this 
great financial conspiracy is blotted from the statute books, the 
Lincoln greenback restored, the bonds all paid, and all corporation 
money forever retired. 

We affirm the demand for the reopening of the mints of the 
United States for the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold 
at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1, the immediate increase in the 
volume of silver coins and cei'tificates thus created, to be sub- 
stituted, dollar for dollar, for the bank notes issued by private 
corporations, under special privilege granted by law of March 14, 
1900, and prior national banking laws, the remaining portion of 
the banknotes to be replaced with full legal tender government 
paper money, and its volume so controlled as to maintain at all 
times a stable money market and a stable price level. 

We demand a graduated income and inheritance tax, to the 
end that aggregated wealth shall bear its just proportion of tax- 
ation. 

We demand that postal savings banks shall be established by 
government for the safe deposit of the savings of the people and to 
facilitate exchange. 

With Thomas Jefferson we declare the land, including all na- 
tural sources of wealth, the inalienable heritage of the people. 
Government should so act as to secure homes for the people and 
prevent land monopoly. The original homestead policy should be 
enforced, and future settlers upon the public domain should be 
entitled to a free homestead, while all who have paid an acreage 
price to the government under existing laws should have their 
homestead rights restored. 

Transportation, being a means of exchange and a public neces- 
sity, the government should own and operate the railroads in the 
interest of the people, and on a non-partisan basis, to the end 
that all may be accorded the same treatment in transportation, 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 41 

and that the extortion, tyranny and political power now exercised 
by the great railroad corporations, which result in the impairment, 
if not the destruction, of the political rights and personal liberty 
of the citizen, may be destroyed. Such ownership is to be accom- 
plished in a manner consistent with sound public policy. Trusts, 
the overshadowing evil of the age, are the result and the culmin- 
ation of the private ownership and control of these great instru- 
ments of commerce — money, transportation, and the means of 
transmission of information — which instruments of commerce 
are public functions, and which our forefathers declared in the 
Constitution should be controlled by the people through their 
Congress, for the public welfare. The one remedy for the trusts is 
that the ownership and control be assumed and exercised by the 
people. 

We further demand that all tariffs on goods controlled by a 
trust shall be abolished. To cope with the trust evil the people 
must act directly without the intervention of representatives, who 
may be controlled or influenced. We therefore demand direct legis- 
lation, giving the people the law-making and veto power under 
the initiative and referendum. A majority of the people can never 
be corruptly influenced. 

Applauding the valor of our army and navy in the Spanish war, 
we denounce the conduct of the administration in changing a war 
for humanity into a war of conquest. The action of the adminis- 
tration in the Philippines is in conflict with all the precedents of 
our national life ; at war with the Declaration of Independence, the 
Constitution, and the plain precepts of humanity. Murder and ar- 
son have been our response to the appeals of the people, who asked 
only to establish a free government in their own land. AVe demand 
a stoppage of this war of extermination by the assurance to the 
Philippines of independence and the protection under a stable 
government of their own creation. The Declaration of Independ- 
ence, the Constitution and the American flag are one and insep- 
arable. The island of Porto Rico is a part of the territory of the 
United States, and by levying special and extraordinary customs 
duties on the commerce of that island, the administration has 
violated the Constitution, abandoned the fundamental principles of 
American liberty, and has striven to give the lie to the conten- 
tion of our forefathers that there should be no taxation without 
representation. Out of the imperialism that would force an unde- 
sired domination upon the people of the Philippines springs the 
un-American cry for a large standing army. Nothing in the char- 
acter or purposes of our people justifies us in ignoring the plain 
lesson of history, and putting our liberties in jeopardy by assum- 
ing the burden of imperialism which is crushing the people of the 



42 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

Old World. We denounce the administration for its sinister efforts 
to substitute a standing army for the citizen soldiery, which is the 
best safeguard of the Republic. 

We extend to the brave Boers of South Africa our sympathy 
and moral support in their patriotic struggle for the right of self- 
government, and we are unalterably opposed to any alliance, open 
or covert, between the United States and any other nation that 
will tend to the destruction of liberty. 

And a further manifestation of imperialism is to be found ta 
the mining districts of Idaho. In the Coeur d'Alene soldiers have 
been used to override miners striving for a greater measure of in- 
dustrial independence. And we denounce the State government of 
Idaho, and the federal government for employing the military arm 
of the government to abridge the civil rights of the people, and to 
enforce an infamous permit system which denies to laborers their 
inherent ability and compels them to forswear their manhood and 
their right before being permitted to seek employment. 

The importation of Japanese and other laborers under contract 
to serve monopolistic corporations is a notorious and flagrant vio- 
lation of the immigrant laws. We demand that the federal govern- 
ment shall take cognizance of this menacing evil, and suppress it, 
under existing laws. We further pledge ourselves to strive for the 
enactment of more stringent laws for the exclusion of Mongolian 
and Malayan immigration. 

We endorse municipal ownership of public utilities, and declare 
that the advantages which have accrued to the public under that 
system would be multiplied a hundredfold by its extension to nat- 
ural inter-State monopolies. 

Mr. Milford W. Howard, of Alabama, was the temporary, and 
Mr. W. L. Peck, of Georgia, the permanent, president of the 
convention of Middle-of-the-Road Populists at Cincinnati, on 
May 9. It was reported that about seven hundred delegates 
were in attendance, and that every State and Territory in the 
Union was represented, except Arizona, New Mexico, North 
Carolina, South Carolina, and Vermont. Evidently the States 
were quite irregularly represented, inasmuch as objection was 
made to the one delegate from Kansas casting the entire num- 
ber of votes, eighty-six, to which the State was entitled, and 
he was obliged to be satisfied with the eleven votes assigned 
to his congressional district. Two votes were taken for a nom- 
ination of a candidate for President. On the second trial 
Wharton Barker, of Pennsylvania, received 370 votes to 336 
for Milford W. Howard, of Alabama. Ignatius Donnelly, of 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 43 

Minnesota, was nominated by acclamation for Vice-President. 
The following platform was adopted : — 

The People's party of the United States, assembled in national 
convention this 10th day of May, 1900, affirming our unshaken be- 
lief in the cardinal tenets of the People's party as set forth in the 
Omaha platform, and pledging ourselves anew to continued advo- 
cacy of these grand principles of human liberty, until right shall 
triumph over might and love over greed, do adopt and proclaim 
this declaration of faith : 

We demand the initiative and referendum and the imperative 
mandate for such changes of existing fundamental and statute law 
as will enable the people in their sovereign capacity to propose and 
compel the enactment of such laws as they desire, to reject such as 
they deem injurious to their interests, and to recall unfaithful 
public servants. 

We demand the public ownership and operation of those means 
of communication, transportation and production which the people 
may elect, such as railroads, telegraph and telephone lines, coal 
mines, etc. 

The land, including all natural sources of wealth, is a heritage 
of the people, and should not be monopolized for speculative pur- 
poses, and alien ownership of land should be prohibited. All land 
now held by railroads and other corporations in excess of their ac- 
tual needs and all lands now owned by aliens should be reclaimed 
by the Government and held for actual settlers only. 

A scientific and absolute paper money, based upon the entire 
wealth and population of the Nation, not redeemable in any specific 
commodity, but made a full legal tender for all debts and receivable 
for all taxes and public dues and issued by the (iovernment only 
without the intervention of banks and in sufficient quantity to 
meet the demands of commerce, is the best currency that can be 
devised ; but until such a financial system is secured, which we 
shall press for adoption, we favor the free and unlimited coinage 
of both silver and gold at the legal ratio of 16 to 1. 

We demand the levy and collection of a graduated tax on in- 
comes and inheritances, and a, constitutional amendment to secure 
the same, if necessary. 

We demand the election of President, Vice-President, Federal 
Judges and United States Senators by direct vote of the people. 

We are opposed to trusts, and declare the contention between 
the old parties on the monopoly question is a sham battle, and that 
no solution of this mighty problem is possible without the adop- 
tion of the principles of public ownership of public utilities. 

The next convention, in point of time, was that of the So- 



44 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

cialist-Labor party, which was held in New York city on June 
2. On the 6th it nominated for President Joseph Malloney of 
Massachusetts, and for Vice-President Valentine Eenimel of 
Pennsylvania. It readopted the platform, of 1896, as follows : — 

The Socialist Labor party of the United States, in convention 
assembled, reasserts the inalienable right of all men to life, liberty, 
and the pursuit of happiness. With the founders of the American 
Republic we hold that the purpose of government is to secure every 
citizen in the enjoyment of this right ; but in the light of our social 
conditions we hold, furthermore, that no such right can be exer- 
cised under a system of economic inequality, essentially destructive 
of life, of liberty and of happiness. 

With the founders of this Republic we hold that the true theory 
of politics is that the machinei-y of government must be owned and 
controlled by the whole people ; but in the light of our industrial 
development we hold, furthermore, that the true theory of econo- 
mics is that the machinery of production must likewise belong to 
the people in common. To the obvious fact that our despotic sys- 
tem of economics is the direct opposite of our democratic system 
of politics can plainly be traced the existence of a privileged class, 
the corruption of government by that class, the alienation of public 
property, public franchises and public functions to that class, and 
the abject dependence of the mightiest of nations upon that class. 

Again, through the perversion of democracy to the ends of plu- 
tocracy, labor is robbed of the wealth which it alone produces, is 
denied the means of self-employment, and, by compulsory idleness 
in wage slavery, is even deprived of the necessaries of life. Human 
power and natural forces are thus wasted, that the plutocracy may 
rule. Ignorance and misery, with all their concomitant evils, are 
perpetuated, that the people may be kept in bondage. Science and 
invention are diverted from their humane purpose to the enslave- 
ment of women and children. 

Against such a system the Socialist Labor party once more en- 
ters its protest. Once more it reiterates its fundamental declaration 
that private property in the natural sources of production and in 
the instruments of labor is the obvious cause of all economic servi- 
tude and political dependence. The time is fast coming when, in 
the natural course of social evolution, this system, through the de- 
structive action of its failures and crises on the one hand, and the 
constructive tendencies of its trusts and other capitalistic combi- 
nations on the other hand, shall have worked out its own down- 
fall. 

We therefore call upon the wage workers of the United States, 
and upon all other honest citizens, to organize upder th? banner 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 45 

of the Socialist Labor party into a class-conscious body, aware of 
its rights and determined to conquer them by taking possession of 
the public powers ; so that, held together by an indomitable spirit 
of solidarity under the most trying conditions of the present class 
struggle, we may put a summary end to that barbarous struggle 
by the abolition of classes, the restoration of the land and of all 
the means of production, transportation and distribution to the 
people as a collective body, and the substitution of the cooperative 
Commonwealth for the present state of planless production, in- 
dustrial war and social disorder ; a Commonwealth in which every 
worker shall have the free exercise and full benefit of his faculties, 
multiplied by all the modern factors of civilization. 

The Republican National Convention met at Philadelphia 
on 'June 19. There was no contention over the platform, as 
there was in the convention of 1896, and the nomination of 
Mr. McKinley for a second term with absolute unanimity on 
the part of the delegates and the Republicans of the country, 
was fully assured. Almost the only active interest in the pro- 
ceedings of the convention was aroused over the nomination 
for Vice-President. Many names were proposed, and there was 
eager canvassing in behalf of some of them. But the movement 
in favor of Theodore Roosevelt, of New York, enlisted the most 
ardent support. Mr. Roosevelt was at the time governor of 
New York, and openly avowed his anxious desire to be nomi- 
nated and reelected to that position. He expressed with equal 
frankness his unwillingness to be nominated as a candidate for 
Vice-President. There was a strong pressure on the part of his 
fellow delegates from New York — for he was a member of 
the convention — to give him the national nomination ; but 
that movement was credited to a desire on the part of the so- 
called leaders of the party in New York to get rid of him as 
a candidate for governor. Had the sentiment in his favor been 
confined to his own State he would have resisted to the last 
and refused to accept a nomination. But the West and South 
were equally favorable to him, and to them, ultimately, he 
yielded. 

The temporary chairman was Senator Edward 0. Wolcott, of 
Colorado, and the permanent president was Senator Henry 
Cabot Lodge, of Massachusetts. On the second day of the con- 
vention a proposition was made, similar to the propositions 
submitted to previous conventions, to change the system of re- 
presentation by allowing each State to send four delegates at 



46 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

large and " one additional delegate for each ten thousand votes, 
or majority fraction thereof cast at the last preceding presi- 
dential election for Republican electors." The proposed change 
was intended to reduce the representation of the Southern 
States, which furnish few electoral votes to the Republican 
candidates. It would have reduced the representation of South 
Carolina and Mississippi each from 18 to 5 ; of Louisiana from 
16 to 6 ; and of Texas from SO to 21. It was opposed by the 
members from the Southern States, and was withdrawn, after 
a brief discussion. 

The Committee on Resolutions reported the following plat- 
form, which was unanimously adopted: — 

The Republicans of the United States, through their chosen 
representatives, met in National Convention, looking back upon an 
unsurpassed record of achievement and looking forward into a 
great field of duty and opportunity, and appealing to the judg- 
ment of their countrymen, make these declarations : 

The expectation in which the American people, turning from 
the Democratic party, intrusted power four years ago to a Repub- 
lican Chief Magistrate and a Republican Congress has been met 
and satisfied. AVhen the people then assembled at the polls, after a 
term of Democratic legislation and administration, business was 
dead, industry paralyzed and the National credit disastrously im- 
paired. The country's capital was hidden away, and its labor dis- 
tressed and unemployed. The Democrats had no other plan with 
which to improve the ruinous conditions which they had them- 
selves produced than to coin silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. The Re- 
publican party, denouncing this plan as sure to produce conditions 
even worse than those from which relief was sought, promised to 
restore prosperity by means of two legislative measures — a pro- 
tective tariff and a law making gold the standard of value. The 
people by great majorities issued to the Republican party a com- 
mission to enact these laws. This commission has been executed, 
and the Republican promise is redeemed. Prosperity more general 
and more abundant than we have ever known has followed these 
enactments. There is no longer controversy as to the value of any 
Government obligation. Every American dollar is a gold dollar, 
or its assured equivalent, and American credit stands higher than 
that of any nation. Capital is fully employed and labor every- 
where is profitably occupied. No single fact can more strikingly 
tell the story of what Republican government means to the coun- 
try than this — that while during the whole period of one hundred 
and seven years, from 1790 to 1897, there was an excess of exports 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 47 

over imports of only $383,028,497, there has been in the short 
three years of the present Republican Administration an excess of 
exports over imports in the enormous sum of $1,483,537,094. 

And while the American people, sustained by this Republican 
legislation, have been achieving these splendid triumphs in their 
business and commerce, they have conducted, and in victory con- 
cluded, a war for liberty and human rights. No thought of Na- 
tional aggrandizement tarnished the high purpose with which 
American standards were unfurled. It w'as a war unsought and 
patiently resisted, but when it came the American Government was 
ready. Its fleets were cleared for action. Its armies were in the 
field, and the quick and signal triumph of its forces on land and 
sea bore equal tribute to the courage of American soldiers and 
sailors and to the skill and foresight of Republican statesman- 
ship. To ten millions of the human race there was given "a new 
birth of freedom," and to the American people a new and noble 
responsibility. 

We indorse the Administration of William McKinley. Its acts 
have been established in wisdom and in patriotism, and at home 
and abroad it has distinctly elevated and extended the influence 
of the American Nation. Walking untried paths and facing un- 
foreseen responsibilities. President McKinley has been in every 
situation the true American patriot and the upright statesman, 
clear in vision, strong in judgment, firm in action, always inspir- 
ing and deserving the confidence of his countrymen. 

In asking the American people to indorse this Republican record 
and to renew their commission to the Republican party, we remind 
them of the fact that the menace to their prosperity has always 
resided in Democratic principles, and no less in the general inca- 
pacity of the Democratic party to conduct public affairs. The prime 
essential of business prosperity is public confidence in the good 
sense of the Government and in its ability to deal intelligently 
"with each new problem of administration and legislation. That 
confidence the Democratic party has never earned. It is hopelessly 
inadequate, and the coimtry's prosperity when Democratic success 
at the polls is announced halts and ceases in mere anticipation of 
Democratic blunders and failures. 

We renew our allegiance to the principle of the gold standard, 
and declare our confidence in the wisdom of the legislation of the 
LVIth Congress, by which the parity of all our money and the 
stability of our currency upon a gold basis have been secured. We 
recognize that interest rates are a potent factor in production and 
business activity, and for the purpose of further equalizing and of 
further lowering the rates of interest we favor such monetary leg- 
islation as will enable the varying needs of the season and of all 



48 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

sections to be promptly met, in order that trade may be evenly 
sustained, labor steadily employed and commerce enlarged. The 
volume of money in circulation was never so great per capita as it 
is to-day. We declare our steadfast opposition to the free and un- 
limited coinage of silver. No measure to that end could be consid- 
ered which was without the support of the leading commercial 
countries of the world. However firmly Republican legislation 
may seem to have secured the country against the peril of base 
and discredited currency, the election of a Democratic President 
could not fail to impair the country's credit and to bring once 
more into question the intention of the American people to main- 
tain upon the gold standard the parity of their money circulation. 
The Democratic party must be convinced that the American people 
will never tolerate the Chicago platform. 

We recognize the necessity and propriety of the honest cooper- 
ation of capital to meet new business conditions, and especially to 
extend our rapidly increasing foreign trade, but we condemn all 
conspiracies and combinations intended to restrict business, to 
create monopolies, to limit production or to control prices, and 
favor such legislation as will effectively restrain and prevent all 
such abuses, protect and promote competition and secure the 
rights of producers, laborers and all who are engaged in industry 
and commerce. 

We renew our faith in the policy of protection to American 
labor. In that policy our industries have been established, diversi- 
fied and maintained. By protecting the home market competition 
has been stimulated and production cheapened. Opportunity for 
the inventive genius of our people has been secured and wages in 
every department of labor maintained at high rates, higher now 
than ever before, and always distinguishing our working people 
in their better conditions of life from those of any competing 
country. Enjoying the blessings of the American common school, 
secure in the right of self-government and protected in the occu- 
pancy of their own markets, their constantly increasing knowledge 
and skill have enabled them finally to enter the markets of the 
world. 

We favor the associated policy of reciprocity so directed as to 
open our markets on favorable terms for what we do not ourselves 
produce, in return for free foreign markets. 

In the further interest of American workmen we favor a more 
effective restriction of the immigration of cheap labor from foreign 
lands, the extension of opportunities of education for working 
children, the raising of the age limit for child labor, the protection 
of free labor as against contract convict labor, and an effective 
system of labor insurance. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 49 

Our present dependence upon foreign shipping for nine-tenths 
of our foreign carrying is a great loss to the industry of this coun- 
try. It is also a serious danger to our trade, for its sudden with- 
drawal in the eveiTt of European war would seriously cripple our 
expanding foreign commerce. The National defence and naval 
efficiency of this country, moreover, supply a compelling reason 
for legislation which will enable us to recover our former place 
among the trade carrying fleets of the world. 

The Nation owes a debt of profound gratitude to the soldiers 
and sailors who have fought its battles, and it is the Government's 
duty to provide for the survivors and for the widows and orphans 
of those who have fallen in the country's wars. The pension laws, 
founded in this just sentiment, should be liberal, and should be 
liberally administered, and preference should be given wherever 
practicable with respect to employment in the public service to 
soldiers and sailors and to their widows and orphans. 

We commend the policy of the Republican party in maintaining 
the efficiency of the Civil Service. The Administration has acted 
wisely in its effort to secure for public service in Cuba, Porto Rico, 
Hawaii and the Philippine Islands only those whose fitness has 
been determined by training and experience. We believe that em- 
ployment in the public service in these territories should be con- 
fined as far as practicable to their inhabitants. 

It was the plain purpose of the Fifteenth Amendment to the 
Constitution to prevent discrimination on account of race or color 
in regulating the elective franchise. Devices of State governments, 
whether by statutory or constitutional enactment, to avoid the 
purpose of this amendment are revolutionary and should be con- 
demned. 

Public movements looking to a permanent improvement of the 
roads and highways of the country meet with our cordial approval, 
and we recommend this subject to the earnest consideration of the 
people and of the Legislatures of the several States. 

We favor the extension of the rural free delivery service where- 
ever its extension may be justified. 

In further pursuance of the constant policy of the Republican 
party to provide free homes on the public domain, we recommend 
adequate National legislation to reclaim the arid lands of the United 
States, reserving control of the distribution of water for irrigation 
to the respective States and Territories. 

We favor home rule for and the early admission to Statehood 
of the Territories of New Mexico, Arizona and Oklahoma. 

The Dingley act, amended to provide sufficient revenue for the 
conduct of the war, has so well performed its work that it has been 
possible to reinm th& 'w.ar debt in the sum of f 40,000,000. So ample 



50 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

are the Government's revenues and so great is the public confidence 
iu the integrity of its obligations that its newly funded 2 per cent 
bonds sell at a premium. The country is now justified in expecting, 
and it will be the policy of the Republican party to bring about, 
a reduction of the war taxes. 

We favor the construction, ownership, control and protection 
of an isthmian canal by the Government of the United States. New 
markets are necessary for the increasing surplus of our farm pro- 
ducts. Every effort should be made to open and obtain new markets, 
especially iu the Orient, and the Administration is warmly to be 
commended for its successful effort to commit all trading and col- 
onizing nations to the policy of the open door in China. 

In the interest of our expanding commerce we recommend that 
Congress create a department of commerce and industries in the 
charge of a secretary with a seat in the Cabinet. 

The United States consular system should be reorganized under 
the supervision of this new department, upon such a basis of ap- 
pointment and tenure as will render it still more serviceable to 
the Nation's increasing trade. 

The American Government must protect the person and property 
of every citizen wherever they are wrongfully violated or placed 
in peril. 

We congratulate the women of America upon their splendid rec- 
ord of public service in the volunteer aid association, and as nurses 
in camp and hospital during the recent campaigns of our armies 
in the Eastern and Western Indies, and we appreciate their faith- 
ful cooperation in all works of education and industry. 

President McKinley has conducted the foreign affairs of the 
United States with distinguished credit to the American people. 
In releasing us from the vexatious conditions of a European alli- 
ance for the government of Samoa his course is especially to be 
commended. By securing to our undivided control the most im- 
portant island of the Samoan group and the best harbor in the 
Southern Pacific, every American interest has been safeguarded. 

We approve the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the 
United States. 

We commend the part taken by our Government in the Peace 
Conference at The Hagiie. 

AVe assert our steadfast adherence to the policy announced in 
the Monroe Doctrine. The provisions of The Hague Convention 
were wisely regarded when President McKinley tendered his 
friendly offices in the interest of peace between Great Britain and 
the South African republics. While the American Government 
must continue the policy prescribed by Washington, affirmed by 
every succeeding President and imposed upon us by The Hague 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 51 

Treaty, of non-intervention in European controversies, the Ameri- 
can people earnestly hope that a way may soon be found, honorable 
alike to both contending parties, to terminate the strife between 
them. 

In accepting by the Treaty of Paris the just responsibility of our 
victories in the Spanish war the President and the Senate won 
the undoubted approval of the American people. No other course 
was possible than to destroy Spain's sovereignty throughout the 
West Indies and in the Philippine Islands. That course created 
our responsibility before the world, and with the unorganized 
population whom our intervention had freed from Spain, to pro- 
vide for the maintenance of law and order, and for the establish- 
ment of good government and for the performance of international 
obligations. Our authority could not be less than our responsibility, 
and wherever sovereign rights were extended it became the high 
duty of the Government to maintain its authority, to put down 
armed insurrection and to confer the blessings of liberty and civ- 
ilization upon all the rescued peoples. 

The largest measure of self-government consistent with their 
welfare and our duties shall be secured to them by law. 

To Cuba independence and self-government were assured in the 
same voice by which war was declared, and to the letter this pledge 
will be performed. 

The Republican party upon its history, and upon this declaration 
of its principles and policies, confidently invokes the considerate 
and approving judgment of the American people. 

On the third day of the convention William McKinley, of 
Ohio, was nominated for President and Theodore Roosevelt, of 
New York, for Vice-President. In each case the roll of the 
States was called and the vote was unanimous. But Mr. Roose- 
velt received one vote less than the 926 given to Mr. McKin- 
ley, as his own vote was withheld. 

The National Prohibition party held its convention at Chi- 
cago on June 27, and the following day. Samuel Dickie, of 
Michigan, was the president of the convention, which consisted 
of more than seven hundred delegates, representing forty 
States of the Union. There was an earnest contest in the com- 
mittee on Resolutions over the question whether the platform 
should express the principles of the party on the single sub- 
ject of th« liquor traffic, or should be a "broad" platform and 
treat of other questions of the day, as had been the custom of 
the party in the past. In the end the victory was with those 
who adviaeaied a platform of a single plank. The controversy 



52 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

was not carried into the convention, and the platform as re- 
ported, was adopted, in the following terms : — 

The National Prohibition party, in convention represented at 
Chicago, June 27 and 28, 1900, acknowledges Almighty God as 
the supreme source of all just government. Realizing that this 
Republic was founded upon Christian principles, and can endure 
only as it embodies justice and righteousness, and asserting that 
all authority should seek the best good of all the governed, to this 
end wisely prohibiting what is wrong and permitting only what is 
right, hereby records and proclaims : 

First, We accept and assert the definition given by Edward 
Burke, that a party is " a body of men joined together for the pur- 
pose of protecting by their joint endeavor the national interest 
upon some particular principle upon wliich they are all agreed." 

We declare that there is no principle now advocated by any 
other party which could be made a fact in government with such 
beneficent moral and material results as the principle of prohibi- 
tion applied to the beverage liquor traffic ; that the national inter- 
est could be promoted in no other way so surely and so widely as 
by its adoption and assertion through a national policy, and a co- 
operation therein by every state, forbidding the manufacture, sale, 
exportation, importation and transportation of intoxicating liquor 
for beverage purposes ; that we stand for this as the only principle 
proposed by any party anywhere for the settlement of a question 
greater and graver than any other before the American people, 
and involving more profoundly than any other their moral future 
and financial welfare ; and that all the patriotic citizenship of this 
country agreed upon this principle, however much disagreement 
there may be as to minor considerations and issues, should stand 
together at the ballot box from this time forward, until prohibi- 
tion is the established policy of the United States, with a party in 
power to enforce it and to insure its moral and material benefits. 

We insist that such a party, agreed upon this principle and 
policy, having sober leadership, without any obligation for suc- 
cess to the saloon vote and to those demoralizing combinations, 
can successfully cope with all other and lesser problems of gov- 
ernment, in legislative halls and in the executive chair, and that 
it is useless for any party to make declarations in its platform as 
to any questions concerning which there may be serious differ- 
ences of opinion in its own membership, and as to which, because 
of such differences, the party could legislate only on a basis of 
mutual concessions when coming into power. 

We submit that the Democratic and Republican parties are 
alike insincere in their assumed hostility to trusts and monopolies. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 53 

They dare not and do not attack the most dangerous of them all, 
the liquor power. So long as the saloon debauches the citizen and 
breeds the purchaseable voter, money will continue to buy its way 
to power. Break down this traffic, elevate manhood, and a sober 
citizenship wiU find a way to control dangerous combinations of 
capital. 

We propose, as a first step in the financial problem of the na- 
tion, to save more than a billion dollars every year, now annually 
expended to support the liquor traffic and to demoralize our peo- 
ple. When that is accomplished, conditions w ill have so improved 
that with a clearer atmosphere the country can address itself to 
the questions as to the kind and quantity of currency needed. 

Second. AVe reaffirm as true indisputably the declaration of 
William Windom when Secretary of the Treasury in the Cabinet 
of President Arthur, that " Considered socially, financially, po- 
litically or morally, the licensed liquor traffic is or ought to be the 
overwhelming issue in American politics," and that " the destruc- 
tion of this iniquity stands next on the calendar of the world's 
progress." We hold that the existence of our party presents this 
issue squarely to the American people, and lays upon them the 
responsibility of choice between liquor parties, dominated by dis- 
tillers and brewers, with their policy of saloon perpetuation, breed- 
ing waste, wickedness, woe, pauperism, taxation, corruption and 
crime, and our one party of patriotic and moral principle, with a 
policy which defends it from domination by corrupt bosses and 
which insures it forever against the blighting control of saloon 
politics. 

We face with sorrow, shame and fear the awful fact that this 
liquor traffic has a grip on our government, municipal. State and 
National, through the revenue system and saloon sovereignty, 
which no other party dares to dispute ; a grip which dominates 
the party now in power, from caucus to Congress, from policeman 
to President, from the rumshop to the White House ; a grip which 
compels the Chief Executive to consent that law shall be nullified 
in behalf of the brewer, that the canteen shall curse our Armv 
and spread intemperance across the seas, and that our flag shall 
■wave as the symbol of partnership at home and abroad between 
this Government and the men who defy and defile it for their un- 
holy gain. 

Third. We charge upon President McKinley, who was elected to 
his high office by appeals to Christian sentiment and patriotism 
almost unprecedented, and by a combination of moral influences 
never before seen in this country, that, by his conspicuous exam- 
ple as a winedrinker at public banquets and as a wine-serving host 
in the White House, he has done more to encourage the liquor 



54 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

business, to demoralize the temperance habits of young men, and 
to bring Christian practices and requirements into disrepute, than 
any other President this Republic has ever had. We further charge 
upon President McKinley responsibility for the Army canteen, with 
all its dire brood of disease, immorality, sin and death, in this 
country, in Cuba, in Porto Rico and the Philippines ; and we in- 
sist that by his attitude concerning the canteen, and his apparent 
contempt for the vast number of petitions and petitioners protest- 
ing against it, he has outraged and insulted the moral sentiment 
of this country in such a manner and to such a degree as calls for 
its righteous uprising and his indignant and effective rebuke. 

We challenge denial of the fact that our Chief Executive, as 
commander in chief of the military forces of the United States, at 
any time prior to or since JMarch 2, 1899, could have closed every 
army saloon, called a canteen, by executive order, as President 
Hayes in effect did before him, and should have closed them, for 
the same reason that actuated President Hayes ; we assert that the 
act of Congress passed JNIarch 2, 1899, forbidding the sale of liquor, 
"in any post exchange or canteen," by any "officer or private 
soldier " or by " any other person on any premises used for mili- 
tary purposes in the United States," was and is as explicit an act 
of prohibition as the English language can frame. 

We declare our solemn belief tliat the Attorney-General of the 
United States in his interpretation of that law, and the Secretary 
of War in his acceptance of that interpretation and his refusal to 
enforce the law, were and are guilty of treasonable nullification 
thereof, and that President ]\IcKinley, through his assent to and 
indorsement of such interpretation and refusal on the part of offi- 
cials appointed by and responsible to him, shares responsibility 
in their guilt ; and we record our conviction that a new and seri- 
ous peril confronts our country, in the fact that its President, at 
the behest of the beer power, dare and does abrogate a law of Con- 
gress, through subordinates removable at will by him and whose 
acts become his, and thus virtually confesses that laws are to be 
administered or to be nullified in the interest of a law-defying 
business, by an Administration under mortgage to such business 
for support. 

Fourth. We deplore the fact that an Administration of this Re- 
public claiming the right and power to carry our flag across seas, 
and to conquer and annex new territory, should admit its lack of 
power to prohibit the American saloon on subjugated soil, or should 
openly confess itself subject to liquor sovereignty under that flag. 
We are humiliated, exasperated and grieved by the evidence pain- 
fully abundant that this Administration's policy of expansion is 
bearing so rapidly its first fruits of drunkenness, insanity and 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 55 

crime under the hothouse sun of the tropics; and when the presi- 
dent of the first Philippine Commission says "It was unfortunate 
that we introduced and established the saloon there, to corrupt the 
natives and to exliibit the vices of our race," we charge the inhu- 
manity and un-Christianity of this act upon the Administration 
of William McKinley and upon the party which elected and would 
perpetuate the same. 

Fifth. We declare that the only policy which the Government 
of the United States can of right uphold as to the liquor traffic, 
under the National Constitution, upon any territory under the 
military or civil control of that Government, is the policy of pro- 
hibition ; that " to establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, 
provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and 
secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity," as 
the Constitution provides, the liquor traffic must neither be sanc- 
tioned nor tolerated, and that the revenue policy which makes our 
Government a partner with distillers and brewers and barkeepers 
is a disgrace to our civilization, an outrage upon humanity and a 
crime against God. We condemn the present Administration at 
"Washington because it has repealed the prohibitory laws in Alaska, 
and has given over the partly civilized tribes there to be the prey 
of the American grog shop ; and because it has entered upon a 
license policy in our new possessions by incorporating the same in 
the recent act of Congress in the code of laws for the government 
of the Hawaiian Islands. 

We call general attention to the fearful fact that exportation of 
liquors from the United States to the Philippine Islands increased 
in value from ?337 in 1898 to .?467,198 in the first ten months of 
the fiscal year ending June 30, 1900; and that while our exporta- 
tion of liquors to Cuba never reached 830,000 a year previous to 
American occupation of that island, our exports of such liquors to 
Cuba during the fiscal year of 1899 reached the sum of §629,855. 

Sixth. Oue great religious body (the Baptist) having truly de- 
clared of the liquor traffic " that it has no defensible right to exist, 
that it can never be reformed, and that it stands condemned by its 
unrighteous fruits as a thing uu-Christian, un-American, and per- 
ilous utterly to every interest in life ; " another great religious body 
(the Methodist) having as truly asserted and reiterated that " no 
political party has a right to expect, nor should it receive, the votes 
of Christian men so long as it stands committed to the license sys- 
tem, or refuses to put itself on record in an attitude of open hos- 
tility to the saloon ; " other great religious bodies having made 
similar deliverances, in language plain and unequivocal, as to the 
liquor traffic and the duty of Christian citizenship in opposition 
thereto ; and the fact being plain and undeniable that the Demo- 



56 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

cratic party stands for license, the saloon and the canteen, while 
the Republican party, in policy and administration, stand for the 
canteen, the saloon and the revenue therefrom, we declare our- 
selves justified in expecting that Christian voters everywhere shall 
cease their complicity with the liquor curse by refusing to uphold 
a liquor party, and shall unite themselves with the only party 
which upholds the prohibition policy, and which for nearly thirty 
years has been the faithful defender of the Church, the State, the 
home and the school, against the saloon, its expanders andperpet- 
uators, their actual and persistent foes. 

^Ve insist that no differences of belief as to any other question 
or concern of government should stand in the way of such a union of 
moral and Christian citizenship as we hereby invite for the speedy 
settlement of this paramount moral, industrial, financial and polit- 
ical issue which our party presents ; and we refrain from declaring 
ourselves upon all minor matters as to which differences of opinion 
may exist that thereby we may offer to the American people a plat- 
form so broad that all can stand upon it who desire to see sober 
citizenship actuall}' sovereign over the allied hosts of evil, sin and 
crime, in a government of the people, by the people, and for the 
people. 

We declare that there are but two real parties to-day concerning 
the liquor traffic — perpetuationists and Prohibitionists ; and that 
patriotism, Christianity, and every interest of genuine and of pure 
democracy, besides the loyal demands of our common humanity, 
require the speedy union, in one solid phalanx at the ballot box, 
of all who oppose the liquor traffic's perpetuation, and who covet 
endurance for this Republic. 

There was a short contest over the nominations, but John 
G. Woolley, of Illinois, was chosen as the candidate for Presi- 
dent by 380 votes to 329 given to Silas C. Swallow, of Penn- 
sylvania ; and Henry B. Metcalf, of Ehode Island, was nomi- 
nated for Vice-President over Thomas R. Carskadden, of West 
Virginia, and E. L. Eaton, of Iowa, 

The Democratic National Convention met at Kansas City 
on the 4th of July. Governor Charles S. Thomas, of Colorado, 
was the temporary chairman and James D. Richardson, of Ten- 
nessee, the permanent president of the convention. 

The unanimous nomination of ]\Ir. William J. Brj^an as can- 
didate for President was assured, but there was a most earnest 
controversy over the platform during the period just preceding 
the convention. A large number of the members of the party, 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 57 

many of them prominent delegates to the convention were in 
favor of making the silver issue much less prominent than it 
was in 1896. Some of these men had supported the ticket four 
years before, others had not. Some of them were advocates of 
free coinage, others were not. But they were all opposed to an 
explicit declaration in favor of free coinage at the ratio of 16 
to 1. Those who still adhered in theory to that measure be- 
lieved that it would be good policy to subordinate that issue 
to the newer one of anti-imperialism; and although they did 
not object to a vague declaration on the silver issue, they did 
urge that a repetition of the 1896 platform would continue to 
alienate many voters who would willingly return to their old 
party allegiance. Former Governor and Senator David B. Hill, of 
New York, was prominent in pressing this view upon the dele- 
gates, as they arrived in Kansas City. Either on his own motion, 
or at the request of Mr. Bryan, he made the journey to Lincoln, 
Xebraska, for a consultation with the prospective candidate. 

His mission was fruitless. Mr. Bryan maintained that the 
position taken by the party in 1896 was right ; that thousands 
upon thousands of his supporters in that campaign still re- 
garded the silver issue as the most important of all ; and that they 
would justly denounce it as an act of treachery on his part if 
he were to accept a nomination on a platform less explicit than 
that of the preceding canvass. He was unmoved by the argu- 
ment that by yielding the point he would gain votes in States 
where an increase of the Democratic strength was greatly 
needed, and was indispensable to victory. H he agreed that 
such would be the result, he was also sure that his surrender 
Avould be followed by a serious loss of votes in States where 
he had alread}' gained them on the silver issue. 

Notwithstanding the failure to persuade Mr, Bryan to take 
the view that it would be good policy to let the silver issue 
drop partly out of sight, and notwithstanding the sentiment 
that the candidate should have a controlling part in the con- 
struction of the platform, the contest was carried into the 
Committee on Resolutions and the matter was debated long 
and earnestly. Ultimately Mr. Bryan's wishes were respected, 
but the vote was close, and attention was called to the fact 
that the majority in favor of the silver clauses was obtained by 
the votes of members from States which could by no possibility 
give Mr, Bryan a single electoral vote. The platform, on which 
there was no contest in the convention was as follows : — 



58 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

We, the representatives of the Democratic party of the United 
States, assembled in National Convention on the anniversary of 
the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, do reaffirm our 
faith in that immortal proclamation of the inalienable rights of 
man, and onr allegiance to the Constitution framed in harmony 
therewith by the fathers of the Republic. 

We hold with the United States Supreme Court that the De- 
claration of Independence is the spirit of our Government, of which 
the Constitution is the form and letter. We declare again that all 
governments instituted among men derive their just powers from the 
consent of the governed ; that any government not based upon the 
consent of the governed is a tyranny ; and that to impose upon any 
people a government of force is to substitute the methods of im- 
perialism for those of a republic. We hold that the Constitution 
follows the flag and denounce the doctrine that an Executive or 
Congress, deriving their existence and their powers from the 
Constitution, can exercise lawful authority beyond it, or in vio- 
lation of it. We assert that no nation can long endure half 
republic and half empire, and we warn the American people that 
imperialism abroad will lead quickly and inevitably to despotism 
at home. 

Believing in these fundamental principles, we denounce the 
Porto Rican law, enacted by a Republican Congress against the 
protest and opposition of the Democratic minority, as a bold and 
open violation of the Nation's organic law and a flagrant breach of 
National good faith. 

It imposes upon the people of Porto Rico a government without 
their consent, and taxation without representation. 

It dishonors the American people by repudiating a solemn pledge 
made in their behalf by the commanding general of our Army, 
w'hich the Porto Ricans welcomed to a peaceful and unresisted 
occupation of their land. 

It dooms to poverty and distress a people whose helplessness 
appeals with peculiar force to our justice and magnanimity. In 
this, the first act of its imperialistic programme, the Republican 
party seeks to commit the United States to a colonial policy incon- 
sistent with republican institutions and condemned by the Supreme 
Court in numerous decisions. 

We demand the prompt and honest fulfilment of onr pledge to 
the Cuban people and the world, that tiie United States has no 
disposition nor intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or 
conti'ol over the island of Cuba, except for its pacification. The 
war ended nearly two years ago, profound peace reigns over all the 
island, and still the Administration keeps the government of the 
island from its people, while Republican carpetbag olficials plan- 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 59 

der its revenues and exploit the colonial theory to the disgrace 
of the American people. 

"We condemn and denounce the Philippine policy of the present 
Administration. It has embroiled the Republic in an unnece.ssary 
war, sacrificed the lives of many of its noblest sons, and placed the 
United States, previously known and applauded throughout the 
world as the champion of freedom, in the false and un-American 
position of crushing with military force the efforts of our former 
allies to achieve liberty and self-government. 

The Filipinos cannot be citizens without endangering our civ- 
ilization ; they cannot be suVjjects without imperilling our form of 
government ; and as we are not willing to surrender our civilization, 
or to convert the Republic into an empire, we favor an immediate 
declaration of the Nation's purpose to give to the Filipinos, first, a 
stable form of government ; second, independence ; and third, pro- 
tection from outside interference such as has been given for nearly 
a century to the republics of Central and South America. 

The greedy commercialism which dictated the Philippine policy 
of the Republican Administration attempts to justify- it with the 
plea that it will pay, but even this sordid and unworthy plea fails 
when brought to the test of facts. 

The war of '-criminal aggression " against the Filipinos, entail- 
ing an annual expense of many millions, has already cost more 
than any possible profit that could accrue from the entire Philip- 
pine trade for years to come. Furthermore, when trade is extended 
at the expense of liberty the price is always too high. 

We are not opposed to territorial expansion, when it takes in 
desirable territory which can be erected into States in the Union, 
and whose people are willing and fit to become American citizens. 
We favor trade expansion by every peaceful and legitimate means. 
But we are unalterably opposed to the seizing or purchasing of 
distant islands to be governed outside the Constitution and whose 
people can never become citizens. 

We are in favor of extending the Republic's influence among 
the nations, but believe that influence should be extended not by 
force and violence, but through the persuasive power of a high and 
honorable example. 

The importance of other questions now pending before the 
American people is in nowise diminished and the Democratic party 
takes no backward step from its position on them ; but the burn- 
ing issue of imperialism, growing out of the Spanish war, involves 
the very existence of the Republic and the destruction of our free 
institutions, ^^'e regard it as the paramount issue of the campaign. 

The declaration of the Republican platform adopted at the Phila- 
delphia Convention, held in June, 1900, that the Republican party 



60 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

" steadfastly adheres to the policy announced in the Monroe Doc- 
trine," is manifestly insincere and deceptive. This profession is 
contradicted by'the avowed policy of that party, in opposition to 
the spirit of the Monroe Doctrine, to acquire and hold sovereignty 
over large areas of territory and large numbers of people in the 
Eastern Hemisphere. 

We insist on the strict maintenance of the Monroe Doctrine 
in all its integrity, both in letter and in spirit, as necessary to pre- 
vent the extension of European authority on these continents and 
as essential to our supremacy in American affairs. At the same 
time we declare that no American people shall ever be held by 
force in unwilling subjection to European authority. 

We oppose militarism. It means conquest abroad and intimida- 
tion and oppression at home. It means the strong arm which has 
ever been fatal to free institutions. It is what millions of our citi- 
zens have fled from in Europe. It will impose upon our peace- 
loving people a large standing army, an unnecessary burden of 
taxation, and would be a constant menace to their liberties. A 
small standing army and a well disciplined State militia are amply 
sufficient in time of peace. 

This Republic has no place for a vast military establishment, a 
sure forerunner of compulsory military service and conscription. 
When the Nation is in danger the volunteer soldier is his country's 
best defender. The National Guard of the United States should 
ever be cherished in the patriotic hearts of a free people. Such or- 
ganizations are ever an element of strength and safety. For the 
first time in our history and coeval with the Philippine conquest 
has there been a wholesale departure from our time-honored and 
approved system of volunteer organization. We denounce it as un- 
American, undemocratic and unrepublican and as a subversion of 
the ancient and fixed principles of a free people. 

Private monopolies are indefensible and intolerable. They de- 
stroy competition, control the price of raw material and of the 
finished product, thus robbing, both producer and consumer. They 
lessen the employment of labor and arbitrarily fix the terms and 
conditions thereof ; and deprive individual energy and small capi- 
tal of their opportunity for betterment. They are the most efficient 
means yet devised for appropriating the fruits of industry to the 
benefit of the few at the expense of the many, and, unless their 
insatiate greed is checked, all wealth will be aggregated in a few 
hands and the Republic destroyed. 

The dishonest paltering with the trust evil by the Republican 
party in its State and National platforms is conclusive proof of the 
truth of the charge that trusts are the legitimate product of Repub- 
lican policies, that they are fostered by Republican laws, and that 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 61 

they are protected by the Republican Administration in return for 
campaign subscriptions and political support. 

We pledge the Democratic party to an unceasing warfare in Na- 
tion, State, and city against private monopoly in every form. Exist- 
ing laws against trusts must be enforced and more stringent ones 
must be enacted providing for publicity as to the affairs of corpo- 
rations engaged in interstate commerce and requiring all corpora- 
tions to show, before doing business outside of the State of their 
origin, that they have no water in their stock, and that they have 
not attempted and are not attempting to monopolize any branch 
of business or the production of any articles of merchandise ; and 
the whole constitutional power of Congress over interstate com- 
merce, the mails and all modes of interstate communication shall 
be exercised by the enactment of comprehensive laws upon the sub- 
ject of trusts. Tariff laws should be amended by putting the pro- 
ducts of trusts upon the free list, to prevent monopoly under the 
plea of protection. 

The failure of the present Republican Administration, with an 
absolute control over all the branches of the National Government, 
to enact any legislation designed to prevent or even curtail the ab- 
sorbing power of trusts and illegal combinations, or to enforce the 
anti-trust laws already on the statute books, proves the insincerity 
of the high-sounding phrases of the Republican platform. 

Corporations should be protected in all their rights and their 
legitimate interests should be respected, but any attempt by cor- 
porations to interfere with the public affairs of the people or to 
control the sovereignty which creates them should be forbidden 
under such penalties as will make such attempts impossible. 

We condemn the Dingley tariff law as a trust-breeding measure 
skilfully devised to give to the few favors which they do not deserve, 
and to place upon the many burdens which they should not bear. 

We favor such an enlargement of tlie scope of the Interstate 
Commerce law as will enable the Commission to protect individu- 
als and communities from discrimination and the public from un- 
just and unfair transportation rates. 

We reaffirm and indorse the principles of the National Demo- 
cratic platform adopted at Chicago in 1896 and we reiterate the 
demand of that platform for an American financial system made 
by the American people for themselves, which shall restore and 
maintain a bimetallic price level, and as part of such system the 
immediate restoration of the free and unlimited coinage of silver 
and gold at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1, without waiting for 
the aid or consent of any other nation. 

We denounce the currency bill enacted at the last session of Con- 
gress as a step forward in the Republican policy which aims to 



62 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

discredit the sovereign right of the National Government to issue 
all money, whether coin or paper, and to bestow upon National 
banks the power to issue and control the volume of paper money 
for their own benefit. A permanent National bank currency, se- 
cured by Government bonds, must have a permanent debt to rest 
upon, and, if tlie bank currency is to increase with population and 
business, the debt must also increase. The Republican currency 
scheme is, therefore, a scheme for fastening upon the taxpayers a 
perpetual and growing debt for the benefit of the banks. We are 
opposed to this private corporation paper circulated as money, but 
without legal tender qualities, and demand the retirement of Na- 
tional bank notes as fast as Government paper or silver certificates 
can be substituted for them. 

We favor an amendment to the Federal Constitution providing 
for the election of United States Senators by direct vote of the 
people, and we favor direct legislation wherever practicable. 

We are opposed to government by injunction ; we denounce the 
black-list, and favor arbitration as a means of settling disputes 
between corporations and their employees. 

In the interest of American labor and the upbuilding of the 
workingman as the cornerstone of the prosperity of our country, 
we recommend that Congress create a Department of Labor, in 
charge of a Secretary, with a seat in the Cabinet, believing that the 
elevation of the American laborer will bring with it increased pro- 
duction and increased prosperity to our country at home and to our 
commerce abroad. 

We are proud of the courage and fidelity of the American sol- 
diers and sailors in all our wars ; we favor liberal pensions to them 
and their dependents ; and we reiterate the position taken in the 
Chicago platform in 1896, that the fact of enlistment and service 
shall be deemed conclusive evidence against disease and disability 
before enlistment. 

We favor the immediate construction, ownership and control of 
the Nicaraguan Canal by the United States, and we denounce the 
insincerity of the plank in the Republican National platform for 
an Isthmian canal, in the ff^ce of the failure of the Republican 
majority to pass the bill pending in Congress. We condemn the 
Hay-Pauncefote treaty as a surrender of American rights and in- 
terests, not to be tolerated by the American people. 

We denounce the failure of the Republican party to carry out its 
pledges to grant statehood to the Territories of Arizona, New MeX" 
ico and Oklahoma, and we promise the people of those Territories 
immediate statehood, and home rule during their condition as Ter- 
ritories ; and we favor home rule and a territorial form of govern- 
ment for Alaska and Porto Rico. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 63 

We favor an intelligent system of improving the arid lands of 
the West, storing the waters for the pur^joses of irrigation, and the 
holding of such lands for actual settlers. 

We favor the continuance and strict enforcement of the Chinese 
Exclusion law and its application to the same classes of all Asiatic 
races. 

Jefferson said : " Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all 
nations, entangling alliances with none." We approve this whole- 
some doctrine and earnestly protest against the Republican depart- 
ure which has involved us in so-called world politics, including the 
diplomacy of Europe and the intrigue and land grabbing in Asia, 
and we especially condemn the ill concealed Republican alliance 
with England, which must mean discrimination against other 
friendly nations, and which has already stifled the Nation's voice 
while liberty is being strangled in Africa. 

Believing in the principles of self-government and rejecting, as 
did our forefathers, the claims of monarchy, we view with indigna- 
tion the purpose of England to overwhelm with force the South 
African Republics. Speaking, as we believe, for the entire Ameri- 
can Nation, except its Republican officeholders, and for all free 
men everywhere, we extend our sympathy to the heroic burghers 
in their unequal struggle to maintain their liberty and independ- 
ence. 

We denounce the lavish appropriations of recent Republican 
Congresses, which have kept taxes high and which threaten the 
perpetuation of the oppressive war levies. We oppose the accumu- 
lation of a surplus to be squandered in such barefaced frauds upon 
the taxpayers as the Shipping Subsidy bill, which, under the false 
pretence of fostering American shipbuilding, would put unearned 
millions into the pockets of favorite contributors to the Republican 
campaign fund. We favor the reduction and speedy repeal of the 
war taxes, and a return to the time-honored Democratic policy of 
strict economy in governmental expenditures. 

Believing that our most cherished institutions are in great peril, 
that the very existence of our constitutional Republic is at stake, 
and that the decision now to be rendered will determine whether 
or not our children are to enjoy those blessed privileges of free 
government which have made the United States great, prosperous 
and honored, we earnestly ask for the foregoing declaration of prin- 
ciples the hearty support of the liberty-loving American people, 
regardless of previous party affiliations. 

On the third day of the convention, July 6, William J. 
Bryan was unanimously nominated as a candidate for President. 
The convention voted for a candidate for Vice-President with the 



64 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

result that Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois, had 559 j^ votes, 
David B. Hill, of Xew York, 200, Charles A. Towne, of Minne- 
sota, 112]/^, and there were many scattering votes. Before the 
result was declared all the votes for other candidates were trans- 
ferred to Mr. Stevenson, and he was unanimously nominated. 
The Silver Eepublican party also held its convention at Kan- 
sas City on July 4. Senator Henry M. Teller, of Colorado, was 
the temporary Chairman, and Judge L. W. Brown, of Ohio, the 
permanent President. It was a mass convention rather than 
one made up of duly elected delegates. Although twenty-one 
States were reported to be represented, the number of persons 
who acted in the convention from the several States varied 
greatly, from 287 reported from Kansas, and one hundred or 
more from three other States to less than a score each from ten 
other States, one of which, Texas, sent but two members. The 
whole number reported was 1057. The convention, on July 6, 
accepted Mr. Bryan as candidate for President. Many of the 
members wished to add to the ticket the name of Mr. Towne, 
the candidate of the Pusion Populists for Vice-President, and 
that action was prevented only by the most earnest argument 
and persuasion by those who regarded such action as a disas- 
trous division of the voters who favored Mr. Bryan's candi- 
dacy. Mr. Towne joined in the opposition to the designation 
of himself as a candidate. Ultimately the convention referred 
the nomination of a candidate for Vice-President to the national 
committee, by which the nomination of Mr. Stevenson was en- 
dorsed. The following platform was adopted : — 

We, the Silver Republican party, in National Convention assem- 
bled, declare these as our principles, and invite the cooperation of 
all who agree therewith : 

We recognize that the principles set forth in the Declaration of 
American Independence are fundamental and everlastingly true in 
their application to governments among men. We believe the patri- 
otic words of Washington's farewell address to be the words of 
soberness and wisdom, inspired by the spirit of right and truth. 
We treasure the words of Jefferson as priceless gems of American 
statesmanship. We hold in sacred remembrance the patriotism of 
Lincoln, who was the great interpreter of American history and 
the apostle of human rights and of industrial freedom, and we de- 
clare, as was declared by the convention that nominated the great 
Emancipator, that the maintenance of the principles promulgated 
in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Federal 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 65 

Constitution, " that all men are created equal ; that they are en- 
dowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that among 
these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ; that to secure 
these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving 
their just powers from the consent of the governed," is essential 
to the preservation of our republican institutions. 

We declare our adherence to the principles of bimetallism as 
the right basis of a monetary system under our National Consti- 
tution, a princij^le that found place repeatedly in Republican plat- 
forms from the demonetization of silver in 1873 to the St. Louis 
Republican Convention of 1896. Since that Convention a Republi- 
can Congress and a Republican President, at the dictation of the 
trusts and money power, have passed and approved a currency bill 
which in itself is a repudiation of the docrine of bimetallism ad- 
vocated theretofore by the President and every great leader of his 
party. This currency law destroys the full money power of the 
silver dollar, provides for the payment of all Government obliga- 
tions and the redemption of all forms of paper money in gold 
alone, retires the time-honored and patriotic greenback, constitut- 
ing one-sixth of the money in circulation, and surrenders to bank- 
ing corporations the sovereign function of issuing all paper money, 
thus enabling these corporations to control the prices of labor and 
property, and increasing the power of the banks to create panics 
and bring disaster upon business enterprises. The provision of this 
currency law making the bonded debt of the Nation payable in 
gold alone changes the contract between the Government and the 
bondholders to the advantage of the latter, and is in direct oppo- 
sition to the declaration of the Matthews resolution passed by Con- 
gress in 1878, for which resolution the present Republican Presi- 
dent, then a member of Congress, voted, as did also all leading 
Republicans, both in the House and Senate. We demand the repeal 
of this currency law, and declare that we shall not cease our efforts 
until there has been established in its place a monetary system 
based upon the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold into 
money at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1, by the independent 
action of the United States, under which system all money shall 
be issued by the Government, and all money coined and issued 
shall be a full legal tender in payment of all debts, public and pri- 
vate, without exception. 

We approve a graduated tax upon incomes ; and if necessary to 
accomplish this., we favor an amendment to the Constitution. 

We believe that United States Senators should be elected by 
direct vote of the people, and we favor such amendment of the Con- 
stitution and such legislation as may be necessary to that end. 

We favor the maintenance and the extension wherever prac- 



66 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

ticable of the merit system in public service, appointments to be 
made according to fitness, competitively ascertained, and public 
servants to be retained in office only so long as shall be compatible 
with the efficiency of the service. 

Combinations, trusts and monopolies, contrived and created for 
the purpose of controlling the prices and quantity of articles sup- 
plied to the public, are unjust, oppressive and unlawful. Not only 
do these unlawful conspiracies fix the prices of commodities, but 
they invade every branch of State and National government with 
their polluting influences, and control the actions of their employes 
and dependents, politically, until such control imperils society and 
the liberty of the citizen. We demand the most stringent laws for 
their suppression and the most severe punishment of their pro- 
moters and maintainers and the energetic enforcement of such 
laws by the courts. 

We believe the Monroe Doctrine to be sound in principle and a 
wise National policy, and we demand a firm adherence thereto. 
We condemn those acts of the Administration inconsistent with it, 
and which have tended to make us parties to the interests, and to 
involve us in the controversies of European nations, and especially 
the recognition by pending treaty of the right of England to be 
considered in the construction of an interoceanic canal. 

We are in favor of the speedy construction of the Nicaragua 
Canal, to be built, owned and defended by the government of the 
United States. 

We observe with anxiety, and regard with disapproval, the in- 
creasing ownership of American lands by aliens ; and their grow- 
ing control over our internal transportation, natural resources and 
public utilities. We demand legislation to protect our public do- 
main, our natural resources, our franchises and our internal com- 
merce ; and to keep them free from, and to maintain their inde- 
pendence of, all foreign monopolies, institutions and influences ; 
and we declare our opposition to the leasing of the public lands of 
the United States, whereby corporations and syndicates shall be 
able to secure control thereof, and thus monopolize the public do- 
main, the heritage of the people. 

We approve of the principle of direct legislation, and favor the 
application of the same to nominations. 

In view of their great sacrifices made, and patriotic services ren- 
dered, we are in favor of liberal pensions to deserving soldiers and 
sailors, their widows, orphans and other dependents. We believe 
that enlistment and service should be accepted as conclusive proof 
that the soldier was free from disease and disability^ at the time 
of his enlistment. We condemn the present administration of the 
pension laws. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 67 

We tender to the patriotic people of the South African republics 
our sympathy, and express our admiration for them in their heroic 
struggle to preserve their political freedom and maintain their 
national existence. We declare the destruction of these republics 
and the subjugation of their people to be a crime against civiliza- 
tion. We believe this sympathy should have been voiced by the 
American Congress, as was done in the case of the French, Greeks, 
Hungarians, Poles, Armenians and the Cubans, and as the tradi- 
tions of this country would have dictated. 

We declare the Porto Rican tariff law to be not only a serious 
but a dangerous departure from the principles of our form of gov- 
ernment. 

We believe in the republican form of government ; and we are 
opposed to monarchy, and to the whole theory of imperialistic 
control. We believe in self-government, a government by the con- 
sent of the governed ; and are unalterably opposed to a government 
based upon force. It is incontrovertible that the inhabitants of the 
Philippine archipelago cannot be made citizens of the United 
States without endangering our civilization. We are therefore in 
favor of applying to the Philippines the principle we are solemnly 
and publicly pledged to observe in the case of Cuba. 

We demand that our Nation's promise to Cuba shall be fulfilled 
in every particular. 

There being no longer any necessity for collecting war taxes, we 
demand relief from the taxes levied to carry on the war with Spain. 

We favor the immediate admission into the Union of States of 
the Territories of Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma. 

We believe the National Government should lend encourage- 
ment and assistance toward the reclamation of the arid lands of 
the United States ; and to that end, we are in favor of a compre- 
hensive survey thereof, and an immediate ascertainment of the 
water supply available for such reclamation, and we believe it to 
be the duty of the general Government to provide for the con- 
struction of storage reservoirs and- irrigation works so that the 
water supply of the arid region may be utilized to the greatest pos- 
sible extent in the interest of the people, while preserving all 
rights of the States. 

Transportation is a public necessity, and the means and methods 
of it are matters of public concern. Transportation companies ex- 
ercise an unwarranted power over industries, business and com- 
merce, and should be made to serve the public interests without 
making unreasonable charges or unjust discriminations. 

We observe with satisfaction the growing sentiment among the 
people in favor of the public ownership and operation of public 
utilities, 



68 A HISTOEY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

We are in favor of expanding our commerce in the interest of 
American labor and for the benefit of all our people by every 
honest and peaceful means. 

We are opposed to the importation of Asiatic laborers in compe- 
tition with American labor ; and favor a more rigid enforcement 
of the laws relating thereto. 

Our creed and our history justify the nations of the earth in 
expecting that, wherever the American flag is unfurled in author- 
ity, there human liberty and political freedom shall be found. We 
protest against the adoption of any policy that will change, in the 
thought of the world, the meaning of our flag. We insist that it 
shall never float over any ship or wave at the head of any column 
directed against the political independence of any people of any 
race or in any clime. The Silver Republican party of the United 
States, in the foregoing principles, seeks to perpetuate the spirit, 
and to adhere to the teachings of Abraham Lincoln. 

On July 18 a number of Anti -Imperialists and Gold Demo- 
crats met at New York and adopted a declaration to be submitted 
to the national committee of the organization which nominated 
Palmer and Buckner in 1896. Inasmuch as it was a select 
gathering, and as it did not accomplish the object aimed at, 
the declaration is not given in full. But as, on the other hand, 
the number of those who held the sentiments expressed in the 
declaration was undoubtedly larger than that of one or more 
of the parties which put a ticket in the field, a summary of it 
deserves a place in the history of the canvass. 

We are met [they declared] to devise means to place in nomin- 
ation a third presidential ticket. We take this course because we 
are at present faced with the necessity of choosing between two 
candidates for neither of whom can we conscientiously vote. 

The declaration then proceeds to characterize Mr. McKin- 
ley, Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Bryan in most uncomplimentary 
terms, which it is not necessary to reproduce, and it announced 
the purposes of those who adopted it as follows : — 

First, a return to the political doctrines of the Declaration of 
Independence and the Constitution. 

Second, the recognition that not only Cuba and the Philippines, 
but Porto Rico and Hawaii are entitled to independence. 

Third, genuine monetary reform. 

Fourth, civil service reform. 

Fifth, the abolition of special privilege, whether of tariff or any 
other origin. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 69 

Some of the gentlemen present at this meeting attended the 
meeting of the national committee of the *' National Demo- 
cratic " party, the name adopted by the Gold Democrats of 
1896, who met at Indianapolis on July 25. But after full 
consideration the committee adopted the following resolutions 
Avhich, as will be seen, made no reference to the anti-imperial 
issue : 

Resolved. That in the opinion of this committee the nomination 
of candidates by the National Democratic party for the otRces of 
President and Vice-President is unwise and inexpedient. 

Second — That we reaffirm the Indianapolis platform of 1896. 

Third — We recommend the State Committees in their respect- 
ive States to preserve their organizations and take such steps as in 
their opinion may best subserve the principles of our party, espec- 
ially in the maintenance of a sound currency, the right of private 
contract, the independence of the judiciary, and the authority of 
the President to enforce Federal laws, a covert attack on which 
is made under the guise of the denunciation of government by 
injunction. 

We urge the voters not to be deceived by the plea that the money 
question has been finally settled. The specific reiteration of the 
demand for the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1 by the 
Kansas City Convention, and the history known of all men in con- 
nection therewith, emphasize the danger of this demand. We in- 
dorse the action of Congress in passing a bill embodying the gold 
standard as a step in the right direction. We feel it would be dan- 
gerous to elevate to executive power any one hostile to the main' 
tenance and enforcement of this law. 

The Anti- Imperialist League held a convention at Indian- 
apolis on August 16, and accepted the nomination of Mr. 
Bryan, and adopted the following platform: — 

This Liberty Congress of Anti-Imperialists recognizes a great 
National crisis, which menaces the Republic, upon whose future 
depends in such large measure the hope of freedom throughout 
the world. For the first time in our country's history the President 
has undertaken to subjugate a foreign people and to rule them by 
despotic power. He has thrown the protection of the flag over slav- 
ery and polygamy in the Sulu Islands. He has arrogated to him- 
self the power to impose upon the inhabitants of the Philippines 
government without their consent and taxation without represent- 
ation. He is waging war upon them for asserting the very principles 
for the maintenance of which our forefathers pledged their lives, 
their fortunes, and their sacred honor. He claims for himself and 



70 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

Congress authority to govern the territories of the United States 
without constitutional restraint. 

We believe in the Declaration of Independence. Its truths, not 
less self-evident to-day than when first announced by our fa- 
thers, are of universal application and cannot be abandoned while 
government by the people endures. 

We believe in the Constitution of the United States. It gives 
the President and Congress certain limited powers and secures to 
every man within the jurisdiction of our Government certain es- 
sential rights. We deny that either the President or Congress can 
govern any person outside the Constitution. 

We are absolutely opposed to the policy of President McKinley, 
which proposes to govern millions of men without their consent, 
which in Porto Rico establishes taxation without representation, 
and government by the arbitrary will of a legislature unfettered 
by constitutional restraint, and in the Philippines prosecutes a 
war of conquest and demands unconditional surrender from a 
people who are of right free and independent. The struggle of 
men for freedom has ever been a struggle for constitutional lib- 
erty. There is no liberty if the citizen has no right which the Leg- 
islature may not invade, if he may be taxed by the Legislature in 
which he is not represented, or if he is not protected by funda- 
mental law against the arbitrary action of executive power. The 
policy of the President offers the inhabitants of Porto Rico, Hawaii, 
and the Philippines no hope of independence, no prospect of Amer- 
ican citizenship, no constitutional protection, no representation in 
the Congress which taxes them. This is the government of men 
by arbitrary power without their consent. This is imperialism. 
There is no room under the free flag of America for subjects. The 
President and Congress, who derive all their powers from the 
Constitution, can govern no man without regard to its limitations. 

We believe the greatest safeguard of liberty is a free press, 
and we demand that the censorship in the Philippines, which 
keeps from the American people the knowledge of what is done in 
their name, be abolished. We are entitled to know the truth, and 
we insist that the powers which the President holds in trust for us 
shall be not used to suppress it. 

Because we thus believe, we oppose the reelection of Mr. McKin- 
ley. The supreme purpose of the people in this momentous cam- 
paign should be to stamp with their final disapproval his attempt 
to grasp imperial power. A self-governing people can have no 
more imperative duty than to drive from public life a Chief Mag- 
istrate who, whether in weakness or of wicked purpose, has used 
his temporary authority to subvert the character of their govern- 
ment and to destroy their National ideals. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 71 

We, therefore, in the belief that it is essential at this crisis for 
the American people again to declare their faith in the universal 
application of the Declaration of Independence and to reassert 
their will that their servants shall not have or exercise any powers 
whatever other than those conferred by the Constitution, earnestly 
make the following recommendations to our countrymen : 

First, that, without regard to their views on minor questions of 
domestic policy, they withhold their votes from Mr. ]\lcKinley, in 
order to stamp with their disapproval what he has done. 

Second, that they vote for those candidates for Congress in their 
respective districts who will oppose the policy of imperialism. 

Third, while we welcome any other method of opposing the re- 
election of Mr. McKinley, we advise direct support of JMr. Bryan 
as the most effective means of crushing imperialism. 

We are convinced of Mr. Bryan's sincerity and of his earnest 
purpose to secure to the Filipinos their independence. His posi- 
tion and the declarations contained in the platform of his party 
on the vital issue of the campaign meet our unqualified approval. 
We recommend that the Executive committees of the American 
Anti-Imperialist League and its allied leagues continue and extend 
their organizations, preserving the independence of the movement ; 
and that they take the most active part possible in the pending 
political campaign. 

Until now the policy which has turned the Filipinos from warm 
friends to bitter enemies, which has slaughtered thousands of them 
and laid waste their country, has been the policy of the President. 
After the next election it becomes the policy of every man who 
votes to reelect him, and w^ho thus becomes with him responsible 
for every drop of blood thereafter shed. 

The following resolution, proposed from the floor, was added 
to the platform as reported : 

Resolved, That in declaring that the principles of the Declara- 
tion of Independence apply to all men, this Congress means to 
include the negro race in America as well as the Filipinos. We 
deprecate all efforts, whether in the South or in the North, to de- 
prive the negro of his rights as a citizen under the Declaration of 
Independence and the Constitution of the United States. 

Still another ticket was nominated by about one hundred 
independent citizens, who claimed no delegated authority, at a 
meeting in New York, on September 5. This action seems to 
have been the outcome of the refusal of the '* National Demo- 
cratic " party, by its national committee, to nominate a ticket 
in response to the demand of the meeting in New York — 



72 A HISTOKY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

already noticed — of July 18. Senator Donelson Caffery, of 
Louisiana, was placed in nomination for the presidency, and 
Archibald M. Howe, of Massachusetts, for the vice-presidency. 
Both of these gentlemen declined the nomination later in the 
month, and no further action was taken. The following decla- 
ration of principles was made : — 

We, citizens of the United States of America, assembled for 
the purpose of defending the wise and conservative principles 
which underlie our Government, thus declare our aims and pur- 
poses: 

We find our country threatened with alternative perils. On the 
one hand is a public opinion misled by organized forces of com- 
mercialism that have perverted a war intended by the people to be 
a war of humanity into a war of conquest. On the other is a pub- 
lic opinion swayed by demagogic appeals to factional and class 
passions, the most fatal of diseases to a republic. We believe that 
either of these influences, if unchecked, would ultimately compass 
the downfall of our country, but we also believe that neither rep- 
resents the sober conviction of our countrymen. Convinced that 
the extension of the jurisdiction of the United States for the pur- 
pose of holding foreign people as colonial dependents is an inno- 
vation dangerous to our liberties and repugnant to the principles 
upon which our Government is founded, we pledge our earnest 
efforts through all constitutional means, 

First — To procure the renunciation of all imperial or colonial 
pretensions with regard to foreign countries claimed to have been 
acquired through or in consequence of naval or military operations 
of the last two years. 

Second — We further pledge our efforts to secure a single gold 
standard and a sound banking system. 

Third — To secure a public service based on merit only. 

Fourth — To secure the abolition of all corrupting special priv- 
ileges, whether under the guise of subsidies, bounties, undeserved 
pensions, or trust-breeding tariffs. 

The canvass of the year 1900 was characterized by no un- 
usual excitement. The number of candidates for the two chief 
offices was unprecedentedly large, but there was nothing in the 
situation to divert from the candidates of the two historic part- 
ies to any one of the minor candidacies any considerable body 
of citizens. The only large group of men. Democrats and Re- 
publicans, who could not conscientiously support either Mc- 
Kinley or Bryan — those who were unalterably opposed to the 
Philippine policy and equally opposed to free silver — found 



"IMPERIALISM/' THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 73 

nothing to attract them, in the Prohibition principles or in the 
several socialistic parties. They reluctantly voted for that one 
of the candidates whose principles were less repugnant to their 
own, or refrained from voting altogether. 

It is probable that several important events, or series of 
events, wholly unconnected with American politics, by divert- 
ing public attention, rendered the interest in the canvass much 
less acute than it otherwise would have been. Of these may be 
mentioned the Boxer uprising in China, the assassination of 
King Humbert of Italy, the terrible catastrophe at Galveston, 
and the closing campaigns of the Boer War. The continuance of 
the war with the Filipino insurgents and the protracted strikes 
in the anthracite coal region may have had some unascertained 
effect upon the political sentiments of the people, and upon the 
vote in November ; but that effect was not only unascertained 
but un perceived. 

Aside from the ordinary campaigning by a host of " spell- 
binders " of both parties, the leading feature of the canvass 
was the activity of Mr. Bryan on the part of the Democrats, 
and of Mr. Roosevelt in behalf of the Republicans. Mr. 
Roosevelt was credited with having made six hundred and 
seventy-three speeches in twenty-four States. Mr. Bryan's 
statistics cannot be given, but there were few days when no 
audiences gathered to hear him, and his travels must have 
been quite as extensive as those of Mr. Roosevelt. 

Although anti-imperialism was announced by the Demo- 
cratic convention to be the paramount issue of the canvass, and 
although the declaration was made at the expressed wish of 
Mr. Bryan, it seems not a prejudiced view of the situation to 
assert that he found the principle less popular than he ex- 
pected. Not that he abated in the slightest degree the energy 
of his opposition to the colonial policy, or that he failed at any 
time to denounce those who preferred — as he put it — an 
empire to a republic. But he devoted the larger part of most 
of his speeches on the stump to the question of the trusts, and 
to the evils to which organized labor was subject. The silver 
question, on which he usually touched, briefly but emphatic- 
ally, also seemed not greatly to interest his hearers. But on 
the other hand it was the leading topic of Republican orators, 
and the most effective argument they could adduce was the 
danger that the gold standard would be endangered should Mr. 
Bryan be successful. The event proved that in the extreme and 



74 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

the middle West the sentiment in favor of silver free coinage 
was far less strong than it was four years before ; and thou- 
sands of Republicans returned to their allegiance. On the other 
hand, in the East where such free silver sentiment existed it was 
to a large degree artificial, and chiefly a product of the desire 
for party regularity ; the " paramount " and other issues of the 
canvass were more emphasized, and there the Democratic vote 
increased. 

The election took place on November 6. The result is shown 
in the table on the opposite page. 

McKinley lost the votes of Kentucky which he had received 
in 1896, but he gained those of Kansas, Nebraska, South 
Dakota, Utah and Wyoming which were carried by Bryan four 
years before. 

The total popular vote was 13,973,071, which was an in- 
crease of 36,020 over the vote of 1896. It was to be followed 
in 1904 by an actual decrease. The causes of the remarkable 
reversal of a tendency which had always previously been ob- 
served, are discussed in a later chapter. 

The resolution of Congress preliminary to the count of the 
electoral votes was more carefully considered and phrased than 
were similar resolutions in the past. Indeed, in the form in 
which it was first passed by the Senate it followed closely the 
language of the resolution adopted by both Houses in 1896. But 
it was observed by some members of the House of Represent- 
atives that it did not use the phraseology of the law, and ac- 
cordingly it was modified. The difference between the two 
forms is slight and may seem unimportant at a casual reading. 
As passed by the Senate, after providing for a joint meeting 
on the 13th of February, for the appointment of tellers on the 
part of the two Houses, and for the making of lists of the re- 
sult by these tellers, the Senate resolution continued : — 

The result shall be delivered to the President of the Senate, who 
shall announce the state of the vote and the persons elected, to 
the two Houses assembled as aforesaid, which shall be deemed a 
declaration of the persons elected President and Vice-President of 
the United States. 

In its modified form there was substituted, for the forego- 
ing, these words : — 

The result of the same shall be delivered to the President of 
the Senate, who shall thereupon announce the state of the vote, 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 75 









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29414 


857 


- 


- 


232 


_ 


_ 


_ 


3 


Illinois . . . 


597985 


503061 


17626 


9687 


1373 


1141 


572 


352 


24 




Indiana . . . 


336063 


309584 


13718 


2374 


663 


1438 


254 


_ 


15 


_ 


Iowa .... 


307808 


209265 


9502 


2742 


259 


613 


_ 


707 


13 


_ 


Kansas . . . 


185955 


162601 


3605 


1605 


_ 


_ 


_ 




10 


_ 


Kentucky . . 


226801 


234899 


2814 


770 


299 


2017 


_ 


_ 


_ 


13 


Louisiana . . 


14233 


53671 


_ 


- 


- 


_ 


_ 


_ 


_ 


8 


Maine . . . 


65412 


36822 


2585 


878 


- 


- 


_ 


_ 


6 


- 


Maryland . . 


136185 


122238 


4574 


904 


388 


_ 


147 


_ 


8 


_ 


Massachusetts. 


239147 


157016 


6208 


9716 


2610 


- 


_ 


_ 


15 


_ 


Michigan . . 


316269 


211685 


11859 


2826 


903 


837 


- 


_ 


14 


_ 


Minnesota . . 


190461 


112901 


8555 


3065 


1329 


- 


- 


- 


9 


_ 


Mississippi . . 


5753 


51706 


- 


_ 


- 


1644 


- 


_ 


- 


9 


Missouri. . . 


314092 


351922 


5965 


6139 


1294 


4244 


- 


- 


- 


17 


Montana. . . 


25373 


37145 


298 


708 


169 


_ 


- 


^ 


- 


3 


Nebraska . . 


121835 


114013 


3655 


823 


_ 


1104 


_ 


„ 


8 


_ 


Nevada . . . 


3849 


6347 


- 


- 


- 


- 


_ 


_ 


- 


3 


New Hampshire 


54799 


35489 


1279 


790 


- 


- 


_ 


- 


4 


_ 


New Jersey . 


221754 


164879 


7190 


4611 


2081 


691 


_ 


- 


10 


— 


New York . . 


822013 


678462 


22077 


12869 


12621 


- 


_ 


- 


36 


_ 


North Carolina 


132997 


157733 


1006 


- 


~ 


830 


_ 


_ 


- 


11 


North Dakota. 


35898 


20531 


731 


520 


- 


111 


_ 


- 


3 


- 


Ohio .... 


643918 


474882 


10203 


4847 


1588 


251 


4284 


- 


23 


— 


Oregon . . . 


46526 


33385 


2536 


1494 


- 


275 


_ 


_ 


4 


_ 


Pennsylvania . 


712665 


424232 


27908 


4831 


2936 


638 


_ 


- 


32 


_ 


Rhode Island . 


33784 


19812 


1629 


- 


1423 


- 


- 


- 


4 


- 


South Carolina 


3579 


47233 


_ 


_ 


_ 


- 


_ 


_ 


_ 


9 


South Dakota . 


54530 


39544 


1542 


169 


_ 


339 


_ 


- 


4 


— 


Tennessee . . 


123180 


145356 


3860 


413 


- 


1322 


- 


- 


- 


12 


Texas . . . 


130641 


267432 


2644 


1846 


162 


20981 


_ 


_ 


- 


15 


Utah .... 


47139 


45006 


209 


720 


106 


_ 


_ 


- 


3 


_ 


Vermont . . 


42569 


12849 


383 


39 


_ 


367 


_ 


_ 


4 


_ 


Virginia . . 


115865 


146080 


2150 


145 


167 


63 


_ 


_ 


- 


12 


Washington . 


57456 


4483:? 


2363 


2066 


866 


- 


_ 


_ 


4 


- 


West Virginia. 


119829 


98807 


1692 


219 


- 


268 


- 


~ 


6 


- 


Wisconsin . . 


265760 


159163 


10027 


7048 


503 


_ 


- 


- 


12 


— 


Wyoming . . 


14482 


10164 


- 


- 


- 


- 


- 


- 


3 


- 


Totals . . 


7219525 


6358737 


209157 


94864 


33432 


50599 


5698 


1059 


292 


155 



which announcement shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the 
persons, if any, elected President and Vice-President of the United 
States. 



76 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

In the one case, it will be seen, the President of the Sen- 
ate was to declare certain persons elected. It was thought ad- 
visable, at a time when no question was to arise as to the re- 
sult, to establish the precedent that the President of the Sen- 
ate was not to declare any person elected. The procedure thus 
enjoined was followed strictly at the count of the vote on 
February 13, 1901, which passed off without an incident out- 
side of the routine. 

The inauguration took place on March 4, 1901, with the 
customary ceremony. But numerous organizations and a vast 
throng of private citizens made the occasion memorable and 
impressive. In the procession that accompanied Mr. McKinley 
from the White House to the Capitol and escorted him back 
to the official residence were a large number of veterans of the 
Civil War; the "Rough Riders," — Mr. Roosevelt's regiment 
during the Spanish War ; — a battalion of Porto Rican sol- 
diers, representing the new citizens of the United States; and 
the full corps of West Point cadets and Annapolis midship- 
men. In the parade after the inauguration were fifteen gov- 
ernors of States, mounted. The number of private citizens who 
were attracted to Washington by simple curiosity or by a de- 
sire to testify their regard for the President and Vice-President 
elect, was unprecedented. The parade after the inauguration 
was witnessed by tens of thousands who lined Pennsylvania 
avenue, many deep, all the way from the Capitol to the White 
House. 

The scene in the Senate Chamber when Mr. Roosevelt took 
the oath as Vice-President was brilliant in the extreme. The 
Supreme Court, the members of the Cabinet, and the diplo- 
matic corps headed by Lord Pauncefote, in their court cos- 
tumes, added dignity to the occasion ; and the ladies of the 
Chinese and Japanese legations, in their gorgeous native at- 
tire, gave a quaint touch of color to the diplomatic gallery. 

After the induction into office of the Vice-President the 
official and invited witnesses of the ceremony of administering 
the oath to the President elect proceeded to the east front of 
the Senate wing of the Capitol. Mr. McKinley took the oath, 
which was administered by Chief Justice Fuller, and then 
delivered his inaugural address. Unfortunately a light rain 
was falling at the time, and the President omitted, in the 
reading, a part of his address. 



II 

ROOSEVELT'S ELECTION FOR A " SECOND TERM " 

Mr. McKinley began his second term under the happiest 
auspices. The momentous crisis through which the country- 
had passed since the beginning of the war with Spain left him 
secure in the support of a large majority of the people. If the 
voters had not, in the preceding November, expressed their 
approval of the policy of expansion which imposed upon the 
government the care and control of distant possessions and made 
it a world power, they had certainly not condemned that policy. 
Congress had passed an act — the act which of all the President 
most ardently desired — reestablishing the system of a protect- 
ive tariff according to the Republican standard, and the people 
had not rejected the party which made the tariff, as they had 
done in 1884, 1890, and 1896, — the last three tariffs en- 
acted. The country was so prosperous under the act, — in 
consequence of it or in spite of it, as one viewed it from the 
protective or the free-trade point of view, — that there was no 
imminent danger of a fresh tariff campaign. Moreover, the 
prosperity of the country served also to reconcile all but the 
most irreconcilable to the act establishing the gold standard 
of money, and the consequent elimination of the silver ques- 
tion from politics, of which it had been a disturbing element 
for more than twenty years. 

Although such was the fortunate situation in home affairs 
the outlook was, if not reassuring, by no means desperate, so 
far as the relations of the government to its new dependencies 
and to certain foreign powers Avere concerned. The Philippine 
revolt was not suppressed, but the clouds in that archipelago 
began to break before the first month of the new term expired ; 
for Aguinaldo was captured by a stratagem in March, and there- 
after the violent opposition to American rule was sporadic 
and futile. Congress had passed an act throwing the entire 
control and government of the islands upon the President, and 
arrangements had already been made to transfer the govern- 
ment from military to civil authority, a change which took place, 



78 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

according to the plans of Governor Taft, on the fourth of July. 
The possession of distant and insular dependencies raised a 
group of new and perplexing questions as to the standing of 
the people inhabiting Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands, 
and as to their relation to and their rights under the Constitu- 
tion and the laws of the United States. The questions were 
carried promptly to the Supreme Court for decision. They 
reached that tribunal in several distinct cases, each of which 
was to be determined by a ruling on a single point. It resulted 
that no general opinion, covering the whole subject, was pos- 
sible. The two cases of chief importance were decided on the same 
day, May 27, each by a divided court, five justices against four. 
But the majority, so far as the personnel of the justices com- 
prising it was concerned, was not the same in the two cases, and 
it was therefore easy for the opponents of what they called im- 
perialism, to maintain that the court overruled itself in the two 
judgments. Whether they were inconsistent with each other or 
not, the effect they produced was to sanction all that Congress 
had done and all that it proposed to do with reference to the 
government of the outlying territory and the people inhabiting 
it. The court decided that the territory acquired as the result of 
the war was a part of the United States, and not foreign ; and 
that the people were not aliens. But on the other hand it de- 
cided that, until Congress should so decree, that territory was 
not a part of the United States in such a sense that the require- 
ment of the Constitution that the taxes imposed by Congress 
"shall be uniform throughout the United States" applied to 
them. Consistency might be asserted for the two decisions by 
advancing the theory that the new territory was a part of the 
United States as a whole ; but that the clause just quoted ap- 
plied only to such part of the country as was organized into 
States. But the Court did not maintain, nor did it disclaim, 
consistency. It simply held that Congress possessed authority 
to pass any laws it might deem necessary for the government 
of the newly acquired territory. 

The relations of the United States to other powers were ab- 
solutely peaceful. But there was one question pending with 
Great Britain that required delicate handling. The experience 
of the country during the Spanish War gave a fresh and strong 
impetus to the public sentiment favorable to the construction 
of a canal to unite the Atlantic and the Pacific. It was urged 
with great force that the country must never again be forced, 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 79 

in time of war, to assemble its naval fleets by steaming around 
South America. The chief obstacle to an enterprise which 
encountered scarcely any opposition at home, was the so-called 
Olayton-Bulwer Treaty with Great Britain, Under that treaty, 
which was made in 1850, and which, as has been said of it, 
''has given rise to more questions than it contains articles," 
the United States was hampered by obligations which success- 
ive Secretaries of State during a half-century had vainly en- 
deavored to remove by peaceful negotiation. In its relation to 
an Isthmian Canal it made Great Britain and the United States 
partners in the protection and control of such a canal, should 
a waterway between the oceans be constructed. The treaty was 
held by American diplomatists to be inconsistent with the un- 
dertaking of the United States, in its treaty with Colombia, 
to guarantee the integrity of Colombian territory. Mr. Blaine, 
when Secretary of State, argued that Great Britain had abro- 
gated the treaty by certain of its acts, but the British Foreign 
Secretary did not admit the validity of his argument, and it 
was never the purpose of any President to act upon the as- 
sumption that the treaty was abrogated, unless Great Britain 
conceded the point. As public opinion in the United States 
after the Spanish War demanded the construction of an inter- 
oceanic canal as a government work, it became more than ever 
important that the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty should be abrogated, 
or at all events modified. For it was clearly against public 
policy to incur the enormous expense of the undertaking unless, 
in the end, it would be under the sole control of the govern- 
ment which had borne the entire burden of cost. 

On February 5, 1900, Secretary of State John Hay con- 
cluded a treaty with Lord Pauncefote as British plenipotentiary, 
modifying in important respects the old treaty of 1850. When 
the treaty was submitted to the Senate for ratification that 
body made several amendments to the instrument, one of which 
declared that the new agreement superseded the treaty of 1850. 
Great Britain rejected the treaty as amended, assigning several 
reasons for its action. But it was generally understood that it 
attached importance to the change just mentioned, and to that 
only. The Foreign Secretary remarked that it was not custom- 
ary for one party to a treaty to declare it superseded when the 
subject of supersession had not been discussed. A new treaty 
was made by Mr. Hay and Lord Pauncefote, November 18, 
1901, which was sent to the Senate at the beginning of the 



80 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

December session, and was ratified on December 16, by a vote 
of 72 to 6. By that treaty the Clayton-Bulwer agreement was 
formally superseded, the right of the United States to construct, 
own, operate, and control a canal was conceded, and the clauses 
relative to the neutralization of the Suez Canal were incorporated 
in the agreement, save that the clause forbidding a fortification 
of the canal was omitted. 

The war with Spain was undertaken with the express pur- 
pose to liberate Cuba, and with a distinct pledge on the part of 
Congress not to acquire it as a territory of the United States, 
but to leave the government to the people of the island. Never- 
theless Cuba was held by United States troops and was gov- 
erned temporarily by a general of its army. Notwithstanding 
the pledge that was given at the outset, there was clearly a 
moral obligation resting upon the United States to see that the 
government of the new republic should be truly representative 
of the people, that its institutions should be founded tipon 
justice and liberty, and that it should be strong enough, as 
well as disposed, to maintain justice, liberty and order. It was 
also the right of the United States, having established the in-. 
dependence of Cuba, to safeguard its own interests. President 
McKinley had ordered an election of delegates to frame a con- 
stitution for Cuba, on July 25, 1900, and the convention met 
on November 5. It was composed of the most radical and ir- 
responsible elements of the population, and when, after child- 
ish dallying with the problem before it, the convention began 
to consider the details of a constitution the general features of 
which had been agreed upon, it appeared that there was no 
purpose on the part of the convention to express obligation, 
gratitude, or even friendliness to the United States. There 
was not in the preliminary draft a word of recognition of the 
service this country had rendered in establishing independence, 
nor of its interest in the future of the island. 

The evident intention of the delegates to obtain the sanc- 
tion of Congress to a constitution which would enable the new 
government to become — like many of the Spanish- American 
republics — a lawless member of the family of nations, a scene 
of frequent revolutions, and absolved from indebtedness of any 
sort to the United States, caused much anxiety at Washing- 
ton. Early in February, 1901, there were several conferences 
among senators who were members of the Committee on Cuban 
Relations ; and the result was the drafting of an amendment 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 81 

to be proposed to the pending Army Appropriation Bill. 
There were consultations with the President and Secretary 
Root, but the original draft Avas made by Senator Orville H. 
Piatt, of Connecticut, and the final draft was made by Senators 
Piatt and Spooner, The Democratic senators on the Committee, 
although opposed to the amendment, patriotically agreed not 
to filibuster against it, nor to ofi"er factious opposition to it. 
Mr. Piatt offered the amendment on February 25, when only 
one week of the session and of the Congress remained. It was 
adopted on the 27th, by a strict party vote, yeas 43, nays 20, 
was agreed to by the House of Representatives, and bpcame a 
law on March 2. The famous " Piatt Amendment " consisted 
of a preamble and eight clauses. The preamble repeated the 
declaration of the intention of the government as set forth in 
the *' Teller Amendment " to *' leave the government and con- 
trol of the island of Cuba to its people," but added that that 
action was to be taken " so soon as a government shall have 
been established in said island under a constitution which, 
either as a part thereof or in an ordinance appended thereto, 
shall define the future relations of the United States with Cuba 
substantially as follows " : — 

The first three of the following clauses are all that need be 
quoted in full. 

L That the government of Cuba shall never enter into any 
treaty or other compact with any foreign power or powers which 
will impair or tend to impair the independence of Cuba, nor in 
any manner authorize or permit any foreign power or powers to 
obtain by colonization or for military or naval purposes or other- 
wise lodgment in or control over any portion of the island. 

II. That said government shall not assume or contract any pub- 
Hc debt, to pay the interest upon which, and to make reasonable 
sinking fund provision for the ultimate discharge of which, the 
ordinary revenues of the island, after defraying the current ex- 
penses of government, shall be inadequate. 

, III. That the government of Cuba consents that the United 
States may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of 
Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate 
for the protection of life, property and individual liberty, and for 
discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the 
treaty of Paris on the United States, now to be assumed and un- 
dertaken by the government of Cuba. 

The fourth clause ratified and validated all the acts of the 
United States during the military occupation of the island. 



82 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY gj 

By the fifth the government was to bind itself to continue the 
sanitation work already performed. The sixth omitted the 
Isle of Pines, for the time being, from the boundaries of Cuba. 
The seventh provided for the sale or lease to the United States 
of land for coaling or naval stations. The eighth embodied an 
engagement to make a permanent treaty with the United 
States in accordance with the foregoing provisions. 

Great reluctance to accept the conditions on which the gov- 
ernment might be established was manifested by the conven- 
tion. It was once voted not to incorporate the Piatt amend- 
ment in the constitution, but the futility of the entire proceedings 
should the convention persist in its refusal finally became so 
apparent that the amendment was appended to the constitu- 
tion. An election was held at the end of the year, and the 
government of the island was turned over to the people on 
the 4th of July, 1902. In the interval there was not a little 
angry discussion of the matter by radical Cubans. The motives 
of the United States in imposing conditions which were de- 
clared to be humiliating, were attacked. There was a suspicion 
of sinister intentions. Yet the terms were not harsh; they 
were calculated to secure the independence of the island, and not 
to impair it; and in particular that clause which authorized in- 
tervention by the United States to secure the island from a suc- 
cession of revolutionary outbreaks, was soon justified by events 
in Cuba. More than once before the inauguration of Senor Palma 
as the first president suspicion was entertained both in Cuba 
and by opposition journals in the United States that the ad- 
ministration had a secret purpose to bring about the annexation 
of the island. But events showed that there was no such pur- 
pose, and the pledge of the government at the time war with 
Spain was declared, was strictly and honorably performed. 

There were several other matters in the foreign relations 
that belong in point of time to the closing months of President 
McKinley's first, and the beginning of his second term. They 
had, however, no bearing upon the political situation, and there-'- 
fore require a brief mention only. The Venezuela trouble, 
which caused much diplomatic correspondence later, was not 
yet at an acute stage. Negotiations were on foot, and indeed 
took the form of a treaty for the cession of the Danish West 
Indies to the United States ; but in the end King Christian 
and the Danish Parliament refused to sanction the cession. 
The government joined with other powers in demanding in- 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 83 

demnity from China on account of losses and expenses suf- 
fered by reason of the Boxer insurrection. The demands of the 
United States were moderate, and when it was found that the 
sum asked for and paid exceeded the actual loss, the excess 
was returned to China. If it be added that the question of the 
fisheries on the coasts of Canada and Newfoundland engaged 
much of the attention of the government, it is a statement that 
would be true of some period in almost every President's term 
of office. 

It will be seen from the foregoing survey of the situation at 
home and abroad that the administration entered upon its du- 
ties under extremely favorable conditions. Save for the unsatis- 
factory outlook in the Philippines there was nothing to cause 
anxiety. Such foreign questions as were unsettled were fully 
under control. Politically the party in power was strong, and 
the several departments worked in harmony. The new House 
of Representatives, elected at the same time as the President, 
consisted of 198 Republicans, 153 Democrats, and 5 independ- 
ents. The Senate, as it met on the 4th of March, consisted of 
56 Republicans, 29 Democrats, and 5 independents. There 
were two vacancies in the Senate, and one in the House. 

On the 29th of April the President set out for a long tour, 
in the course of which he was to visit twenty-four States. He 
was to go by the southern route, by way of New Orleans to 
the Pacific Coast, and to return by the northern route, and the 
Yellowstone Park. But Mrs. McKinley, who accompanied him, 
was taken so seriously ill at San Francisco that the rest of the 
tour was abandoned, and the party returned East by the short- 
est line. 

There is reason to think that the President cherished a 
definite purpose to make his second term noteworthy by a great 
increase in the foreign trade of the country, and to reach that 
end by an important modification of the commercial policy. 
Such a purpose is hinted at in his inaugural message, and 
it reappears in more and more developed form in his later 
speeches. The passage in the inaugural address is brief but 
pregnant. 

Our diversified productions are increasing in such unprecedented 
volume as to admonish us of the necessity of still further enlarg- 
ing our foreign markets by broader commercial relations. For this 
purpose reciprocal trade arrangements with other nations should, 
in liberal spirit, be carefully cultivated and promoted. 



84 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY a 

In his speech at Memphis, on the Western tour just men- 
tioned, he said, — 

It is your business as well as mine to see to it that an industrial 
policy shall be pursued in the United States that shall open up the 
widest markets in every part of the world for the products of 
American soil and American manufacture. We can now supply 
our own markets. . . . We must open new ones for our surplus. 

By far the fullest expression of what was in his mind is 
contained in the last speech he ever delivered. It is a singular 
fact that both parties to the nation-old controversy upon the 
question of protection and free trade, quote more or less fully 
from his utterance on that occasion — the one party maintain- 
ing that he had no intention beyond joining a policy of reci- 
procity to an unyielding policy of protection ; the other that 
he perceived that the policy of protection must be modified. 
Inasmuch as the controversy continues a decade after the words 
were spoken, the text of his remarks upon the subject should 
be given in full. The occasion of the speech was a visit to the 
Buffalo Pan-American Exhibition, on September 5, 1901. Af- 
ter speaking of the state of " unexampled prosperity '"' in all 
parts of the country and in every branch of industry, he pro- 
ceeded : — 

We have a vast and intricate business built up through years of 
toil and struggle, in which every part of the country has its stake, 
which will not permit of either neglect or undue selfishness. No 
narrow, sordid policy will subserve it. The greatest skill and wis- 
dom on the part of the manufacturers and producers will be re- 
quired to hold and increase it. Our industrial enterprises which 
have grown to such great proportions affect the homes and occu- 
pations of the people and the welfare of the country. Our capacity 
to produce has developed so enormously and our products have so 
multiplied that the problem of more markets requires our urgent 
and immediate attention. Only a broad and enlightened policy 
will keep what we have. No other policy will get more. In these 
times of marvelous business energy and gain we ought to be looking, 
to the future, strengthening the weak places in our industrial and 
commercial systems, that we may be ready for any storm or strain. 

By sensible trade arrangements which will not interrupt our home 
production, we shall extend the outlets for our increasing surplus. 
A system which provides a mutual exchange of commodities is 
manifestly essential to the continued and healthful growth of our 
export trade. We must not repose in fancied security that we can 
forever sell everything and buy little or nothing. If such a thing 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 85 

were possible it would not be best for us or for those with whom 
we deal. We should take from our customers such of their products 
as we can use without harm to our industries and labor. Recipro- 
city is the natural outgrowth of our wonderful industrial develop- 
ment under the domestic policy now firmly established. 

What we produce beyond our domestic consumption must have 
a vent abroad. The excess must be relieved through a foreign out- 
let, and we should sell everywhere we can and buy wherever the 
buying will enlarge our sales and productions, and thereby make 
a greater demand for home labor. 

The period of exclusiveness is past. The expansion of our trade 
and commerce is the pressing problem. Commercial wars are un- 
profitable. A policy of good will and friendly trade relations will 
prevent reprisals. Reciprocity treaties are in harmony with the 
spirit of the times ; measures of retaliation are not. 

If perchance some of our tariffs are no longer needed for revenue 
or to encourage and protect our industries at home, why should 
they not be employed to extend and promote our markets abroad ? 
Then, too, we have inadequate steamship service. New lines of 
steamers have already been put in commission between the Pacific 
Coast ports of the United States and those on the western coast of 
Mexico and Central and South America. These should be followed 
up with direct steamship lines between the eastern coast of the 
United States and South American ports. One of the needs of the 
times is direct commercial lines from our vast fields of production 
to the fields of consumption that we have but barely touched. Next 
in advantage to having the thing to sell is to have the conveyance 
to carry it to the buyer. We must increase our merchant marine. 
We must have more ships. They must be under the American flag, 
built and manned and owned by Americans. These will not only 
be profitable in a commercial sense ; they will be messengers of 
peace and amity wherever they go. We must build the Isthmian 
Canal, which will unite the two oceans and give a straight line of 
water communication with the western coasts of Central and 
South America and INIexico. The construction of a Pacific cable 
cannot be longer postponed. 

On the day following the delivery of this speech, September 
6, the President was shot twice, while receiving his fellow 
citizens. At first strong hopes were entertained that he would 
recover, but his wounds were mortal, and he died on Septem- 
ber 14. His assassin was an anarchist of foreign extraction, 
who was executed for his crime during the following month. 

Vice-President Roosevelt was summoned to Buffalo when 
the President's condition was seen to be desperate, and when 



86 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

death removed him, Mr. Roosevelt immediately took the oatli 
of office, by the advice of Mr. Root, the Secretary of War. In 
doing so he said, "It shall be my aim to continue absolutely 
unbroken the policy of President McKinley, vi'hich has given 
peace, prosperity, and honor to our beloved country." By pro- 
clamation he appointed the 19th of September, w^hich was to 
be the day of the President's funeral, as '* a day of mourning 
and prayer," and recommended to all the people that on that 
day they should assemble in their respective houses of vporship 
and hold a memorial service for the murdered President. The 
third assassination of a President in office in a period of less 
than forty years excited universal grief and indignation. Of 
the three victims Mr. McKinley was the best beloved. The 
full appreciation of Lincoln's character came after his death. 
Garfield was greatly honored and respected, and his long fight 
against death brought him very near to the hearts of the 
American people. But McKinley's kindly and homely charac- 
ter rendered him an object of general affection. People of every 
party and of every religious persuasion observed the day of his 
funeral with devotional and memorial services in thousands of 
churches, and the mourning was deep and universal. 

Although Mr. Roosevelt's pledge was absolutely sincere, and 
although his severest critics have always admitted that he kept 
it, loyally, to the best of his ability, it was inevitable that the 
death of Mr. McKinley should make a vast change in the course 
of events. The two men were extraordinarily different in train- 
ing and experience as well as in temperament and tastes and 
tendencies. The mere difference in their respective estimates of 
the relative importance of governmental measures would have 
rendered it impossible that the administration of Theodore 
Roosevelt should be a continuation of the administration of 
William McKinley. The new President certainly exercised 
self-repression during the ensuing three years. Yet in that 
time he showed enough of the quality of his mind and of the 
direction his activity would naturally take, if he were under no 
such restraint as that which he imposed on himself when tak- 
ing the oath of office, to be free to act his natural self when 
he became the duly elected head of the nation. Quite early in 
the new administration there were indications of change not so 
much of policy as of method. The incident of the invitation to 
luncheon of the most eminent colored citizen of the time, Mr. 
Booker Washington, was an illustration. Undoubtedly Mr. 



\ 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 87 

McKinley held Mr. Washington in as much esteem and honor 
as did Mr. Koosevelt ; but it is extremely doubtful if he would 
have shown his esteem in a way which might and did draw 
down upon the President in the first month of his administra- 
tion the denunciation of southerners, who are sensitive in such 
matters. But on the other hand, the entire cabinet of Presi- 
dent McKinley was retained ; and although changes in two 
departments took place not long after Mr. Roosevelt's acces- 
sion, they were caused by voluntary retirement and not by po- 
litical or personal differences. 

The session of Congress which followed the accession of 
President Roosevelt Avas not particularly eventful. In his first 
message the President touched rather lightly upon the ques- 
tion which he was to make peculiarly his own during the en- 
suing seven years, that, namely, of the large corporations, pop- 
ularly known as " trusts." He thought such combinations of 
capital should be, not prohibited but supervised and controlled, 
and that there should be governmental inspection of the work-' 
ing of great corporations engaged in interstate trade. Congress 
passed an act establishing a permanent Census bureau, but the 
bill providing for reciprocity with Cuba was defeated. This 
was regarded as a defeat of the President, who had urged the 
measure earnestly. 

Directly after the assassination of President McKinley there 
Avas a general advocacy in the press, and almost universal pop- 
ular support, of a movement to render less easy the commission 
of such crimes, and more severe the punishment of attempts to 
commit them. The means proposed to accomplish these ends 
were various. Many writers advocated the penalty of death 
for attempts at the life of the President or other high officers 
of the government. Numerous bills were introduced in Con- 
gress on the subject, but in the end no action was taken upon 
any of them. 

The most important act of the session was that providing 
for the construction of the Panama Canal. It had for a long 
time been a question between the Nicaragua and the Panama 
routes. A commission of engineers reported in favor of Nicar- 
agua, but it was hardly a secret that the chief reason for the 
decision was the vastly greater cost of the Panama route. It 
was evident that the French company would be unable to raise 
the funds necessary to finish the Panama Canal, but the com- 
pany demanded an excessively large sum for its franchise and 



88 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

for the work already done. The sum asked was $109,000,000. 
Many of those interested in the general question were never- 
theless strongly in favor of the Nicaragua route, not only as 
the cheaper but as the better location for the waterway. Chief 
among them was the venerable Senator Morgan, of Alabama, 
who had studied the subject with great care and thoroughness, 
was most enthusiastic in maintaining his thesis, and had made 
many long and able speeches in the Senate in favor of Nicar- 
agua, In December, 1901, it was rumored that the French 
Company was willing largely to reduce its price, and on Janu- 
ary 4, 1902, the directors voted to dispose of all the property 
of the company for forty million dollars. It had become evi- 
dent to them that the United States was resolved to build a 
canal, and should the line across Nicaragua be chosen, the dif- 
ficulty of raising money further to prosecute their own en- 
terprise would become an impossibility. Notwithstanding the 
oflfer to sell at a lower price, the House of Representatives, on 
January 9, 1903, rejected an amendment in favor of Panama, 
by a vote of yeas 102, nays 170, and passed the Nicaragua 
bill. But the Senate, to the distress of Senator Morgan, sub- 
stituted Panama, and the House concurred. 

It seemed at the time that this action assured the realiza- 
tion of the dream of centuries. But there was an unexpected 
obstacle. The Republic of Colombia across the territory of 
which the canal was to be constructed was believed to be 
friendly, in spite of the objections and hesitations which had 
characterized its attitude toward the French company when 
the question of renewing its franchise was under consideration. 
Without friction or dissent in any respect from the terms pro- 
posed, a treaty was concluded between the representatives of 
the two republics providing for the lease of a strip of territory 
across the isthmus six miles in width, for a term of one hun- 
dred years, with the right of renewal ; and the right was con- 
ceded to the United States to land troops to protect the canal 
in case Colombia should be unable to preserve order. In con- 
sideration of these concessions the United States was to pay 
Colombia a sum of ten million dollars outright, and an annual 
rental of a quarter of a million, to begin nine years after the 
ratification of the treaty. This agreement was made in Janu- 
ary, 1903, and was ratified by the Senate on May 17. To the 
great surprise of the people and the government of the United 
States, there were long delays of the consideration of the treaty 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 89 

by the Colombian Congress ; then there were rumors that there 
was strong opposition to it ; and ultimately the treaty was re- 
jected by a unanimous vote. No doubt the people of that 
country were convinced that the United States was determined 
to construct the canal, and that nothing more than a deter- 
mined opposition to the terms of the pending treaty would be 
necessary to obtain a larger sum than was offered and to re- 
strict somewhat the granted privileges. 

But the act under which the undertaking was sanctioned 
provided that unless a satisfactory arrangement should be made 
with Colombia " in a reasonable time," the alternative plan of 
a Nicaraguau Canal should be adopted. It was urged that the 
condition so described existed, and that it was the duty of the 
President to turn to Nicaragua. Manifestly, however, it was 
in the discretion of the President to determine what was a 
reasonable time, and he was not at all disposed to abandon 
the Panama route. 

Probably the true history of the events which followed will 
never be known, so far as the agency in them of any persons 
connected with or acting for the government of the United 
States, is concerned. Immediately after the adjournment of the 
Congress of Colombia, on November 4, 1903, there was a ris- 
ing in the City of Panama, and the independence of the State 
of Panama was declared. The revolution was bloodless. It is 
not known how many of the people were cognizant of the 
movement before it took place, but there was certainly no op- 
position to it in the State. Colombia undertook to move troops 
to the seat of the insurrection, but was prevented from doing 
so by an order from President Roosevelt directing the use of 
United States marines, from naval vessels stationed in Col- 
ombian waters, to oppose the use of the Panama Railroad for 
moving troops. An old treaty with New Grenada, the prede- 
cessor of Colombia, by which the United States undertook to 
guarantee the sovereignty of the republic, and to protect the 
free transit of the isthmus, was the excuse for this act. The 
opponents of the administration were not slow to point out 
that the treaty was used to destroy the sovereignty of the 
government it was designed to protect. But the order stood, 
the secession of Panama was accomplished, Colombia was pow- 
erless to do more than protest, and within a few days the in- 
dependence of Panama was formally recognized by President 
Roosevelt. 



90 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

It was easy to suspect that the whole movement was planned 
at Washington ; or at least by agents of the United States gov- 
ernment ; or, if not so, that information of what was to occur 
was furnished to the government before the insurrection be- 
can. This is not the place either to present the facts on which 
such suspicions were founded, or to analyse those facts in de- 
fence of the acts of the administration. It may be true to say 
that the people of the United States were so much in earnest 
in favor of constructing the canal that they did not wish to 
know the whole truth. They would probably have said — a 
large majority of them — that they would justify what was 
done, even if it were an act of war against a weak and defence- 
less nation, and even if they would have considered twice be- 
fore they would have acted in like manner toward a country 
that was capable of resisting. Ingenious theories were advanced, 
based on such considerations as this : that the United States 
proposed to undertake a great work for the welfare of all man- 
kind, and that the fictions of sovereignty over a small strip of 
territory should not be allowed to be an obstacle. Another 
idea, somewhat akin to this, was that the United States was 
merely acting upon the principle of international eminent do- 
main. None of these theories convinced or silenced those 
who refused to be drawn away from the fundamental prin- 
ciple of the equality of sovereign nations and the practice of 
equal and exact justice and fair dealing by all. Neverthe- 
less the people of the United States as a whole pardoned the 
offence, if offence they deemed it, and there is no evidence 
whatever that the cause of the President exercised the re- 
motest adverse influence upon his own political fortunes, or 
upon tbose of his party. 

One phase of the affair, however, which persists on any 
view of the coup made by the United States, has never been 
excused by those who are sensitive as to the honor of the gov- 
ernment. Colombia had rights in the isthmus for which the 
French company was willing to pay, and for which the United 
States agreed by treaty to pay. It lost those rights by the act 
of a handful of its citizens following an act of its own which 
was foolish and arrogant, no doubt, but was by no means un- 
pardonable. Thereupon this government seized those rights 
and, a strong nation dealing with a weak one, has never given 
any compensation to Colombia for them, has persistently re- 
fused to submit the claim Colombia makes to arbitration^ and 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 91 

leaves the neighbor whom the Monroe Doctrine obliges it to 
protect against others, defenceless against itself. Even the 
right of eminent domain provides cempensation for property 
condemned under its operation. 

As soon as the new government of Panama was fully organ- 
ized a treaty was made with it upon much more favorable 
terms than had been incorporated in the treaty with Colombia. 
Panama ceded in absolute sovereignty a strip across the conti- 
nent ten miles wide, and consented to the sanitation of the cities 
of Colon and Panama by the United States. The ten millions 
that were to be paid to Colombia, according to the rejected 
treaty, were promised to Panama. The treaty was concluded 
in December, 1903, and was ratified by the Senate on February 
23, 1904. The payment of that sum, and of the forty millions 
purchase money to the French Company, was skilfully effected 
by the Treasury Department without any disturbance of the 
money market ; and since the transfer of the franchise and 
property the work of constructing the canal has proceeded 
without interruption from any quarter. 

During the period of this administration, the government had 
upon its hands two important matters in its relations with for- 
eign governments. The United States had its own difficulty 
with Venezuela, but at this time the old grievance was not at 
issue. Venezuela had contracted loans which were held in sev- 
eral European countries, were long outstanding, long overdue, 
and not only unpaid but treated by the debtor as though they 
did not exist. Negotiations having failed, some of the creditors 
resolved to take measures to enforce payment. In 1902 Great 
Britain, Germany, and Italy sent naval vessels to the coast of 
Venezuela for the purpose of enforcing their demands. The 
British government probably deemed unnecessary any assurance 
that its action would not be adverse to American interests and 
policy. Germany, not, of course, under suspicion, but less 
closely bound to America than Great Britain, gave notice in a 
friendly spirit of its intention to use forcible means to collect 
the debts owed to its citizens by Venezuela, and added to the 
notification this important assurance : " We declare also that 
under no circumstances do we consider in our proceedings the 
acquisition or permanent occupation of Venezuelan territory." 
Secretary Hay, in his reply to the communication, said : "The 
Monroe Doctrine is a declaration that there must be no territo- 
rial aggression by any non- American power at the expense of 



92 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

any American power on American soil. It is in no wise in- 
tended as hostile to any nation in the Old World." 

The British, German, and Italian ships established a "pacific 
blockade " of the Venezuelan coast, and captured some Vene- 
zuelan merchant vessels. Less pacific than these acts, which are 
ordinarily regarded as at least technically war measures, was 
the action of Germany in bombarding a coast town. President 
Castro, when he was fully convinced that the United States did 
not propose to protect him in his denial of justice to his cred- 
itors, yielded to the demand for a conference and an agreement 
to meet the obligations of his government. The conference took 
place, and Venezuela consented to set apart the customs duties 
from certain ports for the discharge of its foreign debts. A de- 
mand by the three powers which had extorted the concession 
that their claims should first be satisfied, was resisted by the 
other powers concerned, and was referred to the Hague Tribu- 
nal, which decided that the claim was just. Moreover, the Tri- 
bunal laid upon the government of the United States the duty 
of overseeing the settlement and of making sure that Venezuela 
kept its promises. In that act, it may reasonably be held, was 
an international recognition of the Monroe Doctrine, as there 
was a recognition of it by Germany when it disclaimed an in- 
tention to acquire or occupy permanently Venezuelan territory. 
No less than ten governments presented claims under the agree- 
ment, — in addition to the three that took aggressive action, 
the governments of the United States, France, Spain, Belgium, 
the Netherlands, Sweden, and Mexico. 

The other diplomatic matter above referred to was the 
Alaska boundary question. The line between the United States 
and the British- American possessions was more or less in con- 
troversy for a hundred and twenty years after the acknowledg- 
ment of American independence, and was not finally established 
until the year 1903. The question as to the Alaskan boundary 
arose in consequence of the purchase of Russian America, and 
the discovery of gold in the Klondike, in disputable territory. 
Canada found itself shut off from access to the sea, not only by 
the American interpretation of the treaty under which Alaska 
was ceded, but by every existing map on which the boundary 
line was drawn. The main question was whether the line should 
be drawn ten leagues inland following the sinuosities of the 
coast, or from headland to headland. In the one case Canada 
would be cut off altogether from tidewater^ Jf th,e line were 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 93 

drawn from headland to headland Canada would gain the im- 
portant Lynn canal, and would also have access to the sea by 
numerous bays and estuaries. It is needless to say that Canada 
maintained the justice of its contention as earnestly as the op- 
posite contention was maintained in the United States, although 
historically and cartographically there seemed nothing to sus- 
tain a claim that had never been even suggested prior to the 
discovery of gold in the region. But it was a matter to be de- 
cided, and Great Britain and the United States agreed to sub- 
mit it to a joint commission of three on each side. From the 
beginning Canada was dissatisfied with the appointment of com- 
missioners on the part of the United States whom they regarded 
as biassed, prejudiced, and incapable of weighing the question 
judicially. The British commissioners were Lord Chief Justice 
Alverstone and two Canadians. The commission met in London, 
and in November, 1903, decided the matter in accordance with 
the American view, except on a minor point. The majority con- 
sisted of Lord Alverstone and the three Americans. The deci- 
sion gave great dissatisfaction in Canada, where the popular 
displeasure was about equally divided between the American 
commissioners, Lord Alverstone, and the British government, 
which was declared once more to have sacrificed Canadian in- 
terests to American arrogance and greed. 

One of the most important labor struggles, important both 
by its magnitude an'd duration and on account of its political 
consequences, was the strike, in 1902, in the anthracite coal 
region of Pennsylvania. The history of the strike is long and 
complicated, but the details — the grievances alleged by the 
miners and the ultimate settlement — need not here be recited. 
The strike began in May, 1902, and lasted five months. It 
was attended with not a little violence. Both sides' were firm 
and uncompromising. As winter was drawing on, and as a ter- 
rible scarcity of fuel was seen to be inevitable, the President 
determined to use his power to the utmost to bring the struggle 
to a close. He summoned John Mitchell, the representative 
of the miners, to a conference, on October 3, and a few days 
later appointed a commission of prominent men to inquire into 
the whole question, and advise terms of settlement. Meantime 
the miners were to return to work immediately, the strike being 
declared " off," and were to accept the settlement to be recom- 
mended, whatever it might be. The strike did end on October 
21 ; the commission recommended concession of some of the 



94 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

miner's demands and rejected others, and the settlement was 
to stand, and did stand, for three years. 

INIr, Roosevelt's intervention in this labor dispute cost him 
the permanent loss of some of his former supporters, and brought 
to his support many -who had previously opposed him. In some 
quarters his course was regarded as evidence, not merely that 
he was inclined to sympathize with " organized labor/' even 
when it assumed the right to something like an equal share in 
the conduct of the employing business, but also that he would 
take actively the side of ''labor" against combined " capital." 
It was also urged with some vehemence that his interference 
in the coal dispute was officious and unconstitutional. The per- 
sonal opposition to him that arose from this incident was cer- 
tainly more than otiset by the support which he gained among 
those who sympathized with the coal miners ; and in the com- 
munity at large there was a general feeling of gratitude to him 
for having brought to a close a dispute which caused most se- 
rious inconvenience and financial loss through the extreme scarc- 
ity of coal and an unprecedented cost of the article. There 
was little or no disposition to quarrel Avith an act which p\it 
an end to an intolerable situation, and the argument of uncon- 
stitutionality fell on deaf ears. 

Altliough these events of the administration have been de- 
scribed at some length, there is no reason to think that either 
or all of them had an appreciable influence upon the result of 
the ensuing election. On a retrospective view it seems safe to 
say that during the three years of j\Ir. Eoosevelt's first admin- 
istration the thoughts of leading politicians on both sides were 
directed — so far as they were thoughts of the election of 1904 
— rather to persons than to policies. 

The sentiment on the Eepublican side has already been sug- 
gested. Mr, Eoosevelt was undeniably a popular candidate. 
The movement in his favor began earlier, and developed 
greater strength than had ever been manifested in the case of 
a Vice-President who had succeeded to the presidency on the 
death of the chosen President. Tyler, Fillmore. Johnson, Ar- 
thur, — all had support in nominating conventions, but not one 
of them was really expected to become the candidate. So early 
as June, 1902, Kepublican State conventions in Kansas and 
Pennsylvania passed resolutions in favor of the reelection of 
!Mr. Eoosevelt. We should probably have to go as far back as 
the time of General Jackson to cite similar action, so early in 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 95 

an administration, in favor even of an elected President. Sub- 
sequently other State conventions urged the reelection of Mr, 
Roosevelt, most of them, heartily, some — as in the case of 
New York — with obvious reluctance and with no pretence of 
enthusiasm. For there was opposition to him. He was accused 
of impulsiveness and rashness, of over-confidence in his own 
judgment and discernment of right and wrong; and those who 
held this opinion of him regarded him as "unsafe." In secret, 
no doubt, there was plotting to bring forward another candi- 
date. The person most considered as an alternative was Sen- 
ator Hanna of Ohio. But it is only the truth to say that all 
suggestions of that sort were futile. No amount of political 
management could have brought about the defeat of ]\Ir. 
Roosevelt. Not only an overwhelming majority of the Kepub- 
lican rank and file, but a great majority of the active politi- 
cians were in his favor. Many of the so-called " leaders" in 
both Houses of Congress were against him, but they led a piti- 
ful minority of those who were to make the decision. 

A remarkable situation developed in the Democratic party. 
Mr. Bryan had twice been the candidate, and twice had been 
defeated. He was the representative and advocate of an ex- 
treme radical policy. The conservative element had supported 
him half-heartedly, or refused to vote, or had gone over for 
the time being to the Republican candidates. Early in Mr. 
Roosevelt's administration the conservatives began to urge 
that the time had come to abandon the policies which had 
come into Democratic platforms by the way of Populism, and 
to revert to the ancient and time-honored principles of the 
party. Some resistance was oflfered to the movement, but on 
the whole it was successful. Some western Democratic State 
conventions refused to endorse the national platform of 1900 ; 
in the South there was much outspoken weariness of the dom- 
inance of Mr. Bryan in the control of the party. The East 
had never been particularly earnest in support of the candi- 
date and the platforms of 1896 and 1900, and was ready to 
join in the movement for a "safe and sane" candidate and 
platform. 

How to make the choice of a candidate was easily argned 
out. The Democrats could not succeed unless they could carry 
several large northern States, and their minds turned naturally 
to the four which had longest remained Democratic or "doubt- 
ful," — New York, New Jersey, Indiana, and Connecticut. 



96 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

They could hardly hope to win anyway unless they could have 
the electoral vote of New York. So they must have a candi- 
date who, above all things, must be able to carry that State. 
He must have a clear record of not having bolted Mr. Bryan 
or any other Democratic candidate. He must nevertheless not 
be identified with either wing of the party. He must be a man 
of high standing and one who commanded general respect. 
Support — so far as those who took the foregoing view of 
what was expedient was concerned — was concentrated upon 
Judge Alton B. Parker of New York. Mr. Parker, after long 
service as a judge of the supreme court of the State, was, in 
1897, elected chief judge of the Court of Appeals, for a term 
that would end in 1911. Personally and politically he com- 
manded respect. He was believed to be conservative in his 
tendencies, but he had not been guilty of deserting his party 
when it followed Mr. Bryan and professed radical principles. 
It was therefore believed that he could have the support of 
both wings of the party, and that he, if any Democratj could 
carry New York. 

But it would give a grossly misleading view of the situation 
to leave the impression that the movement which eventually 
made Judge Parker the candidate received general acquiescence, 
or was not stoutly resisted. Mr. Bryan himself, who declared 
— and maintained his declaration — that he was not a candi- 
date for the nomination, in a speech at Chicago, on April 23, 
1904, attacked the "reorganizers," and taking for his text the 
platform which the Democratic State Convention had recently 
adopted, said, '* I am sanguine to believe that I can prove to 
every unbiassed mind that Judge Parker is not a fit man to be 
nominated either by the Democratic party or by any other 
party that stands for honesty and fair dealing in politics." In 
saying this he assumed what was undoubtedly true, that the 
platform met with Judge Parker's approval, since the conven- 
tion was controlled by his friends and supporters for the nom- 
ination. 

But if there was to be no reorganization, if the party was 
to continue to maintain the principles inseparably associated 
with the name and the advocacy of Mr. Bryan, who was to be 
the candidate ? The answer introduces us to one of the strang- 
est episodes in American political history. It is too soon after 
the event to narrate in detail the rise and progress in national 
politics of Mr. William R. Hearst. Although it is impossible 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 97 

not to take note of the importance of the movement in his 
favor in 1904, it is equally impossible to present more than 
the barest outline of events without being open to an accusa- 
tion of partisanship on one side or the other. Mr. Hearst was 
the sole owner of eight daily newspapers in five cities — New 
York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. He 
was elected to Congress from a New York City district in 
1902. Both as editor and as congressman he took extreme 
radical ground. In his newspapers he was a champion of the 
cause of labor, and an unsparing opponent of corporations and 
of corporate wealth. He became the president of several sep- 
arate organizations of political clubs, all of which were formed 
to promote his fortunes as a candidate for the presidency, and 
his newspapers were a powerful engine to accomplish the same 
end. If he did not attach to himself a large number of the 
leaders of the Democratic party, he did gain the favor and the 
enthusiastic support of a vast number of the rank and file of 
the men who had votes. His " boom " made little show at 
first, for the methods employed by himself and his friends, 
although consummately efi'ective, were quite unusual in politi- 
cal manoeuvering. 

Indeed, Mr. Hearst's boom was for some time treated with 
derision. It was only when the Democratic war horses discov- 
ered that the new comer in the field was making great progress, 
that he was certain to appear in the national convention with 
a formidable number of delegates, that they began, if not to 
feel alarm at the result, at least to bestir themselves to defeat 
him. History told them that more than one national convention 
had been carried ofi" its feet by a sudden burst of personal en- 
thusiasna, and they could not afford to take the risk of such a 
stampede. 

The first nominating convention of the year 1904 was that 
of the Socialist party, which met at Chicago on Sunday, May 1, 
and continued in session six days. The convention consisted 
of 184 delegates, representing 33 States and two territories. 
Eight of the delegates were women. The convention was re- 
markable for the number of editors of socialist journals and 
periodicals who were members. More than half of all the news- 
papers of the country engaged in the propagation of socialist 
principles were represented by members of their staffs. James 
F. Carej^ .cf JMaasachjaaetts, vvas the temporary chairman of 



98 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

the convention. There was no permanent president, but the 
convention chose a chairman for the day at the opening of each 
session. 

The business transacted was much more extensive in amount 
and scope than that of ordinary national nominating conven- 
tions. In addition to the platform of principles the convention 
adopted a constitution for the party, after a detailed discussion, 
clause by clause. It also presented separate " programs " of 
State and municipal reforms, and passed many resolutions ex- 
pressing the opinion of the members on events of the day — 
the Japanese war, occurrences in Colorado, and the like. The 
debates upon all these matters were conducted in a manner — 
be it said without offence — characteristic of the free spoken, 
sometimes even violent, methods of Socialists. Several of the 
verbal encounters between speakers and the chair were decidedly 
unparliamentar}'-, judged by ordinary standards. 

It was well that the convention had so much business to 
occupy it, for it was not until the afternoon of the fifth day 
that the platform was ready to be reported. It was known from 
the beginning that the sentiment of the convention was divided 
on two subjects. There was a radical faction which desired to 
put into the platform a declaration concerning marriage, and 
the" dissolubility of the marital relation which was strongly 
opposed by the more conservative delegates. The chairman of 
the committee was an extreme radical on this question. There 
was another division on the subject of the relation of socialism 
and the Socialist party to trade unions. One faction wished to 
effect an alliance between the party and the organizations re- 
presenting labor ; the other faction maintained that the trade 
unionists were endeavoring to effect merely a single reform in 
their own interest, and that they should receive political as- 
sistance only on condition of their joining the Socialist party. 
As will be seen the platform adopted makes no reference what- 
ever to the marriage relation ; on the trade union question the 
convention both in independent resolutions, and in the plat- 
form, followed a course of compromise, strongly approving the 
demands of labor and urging all members of the " worker class" 
to become Socialists. The platform, which follows, was unani- 
mously adopted. 

1. The Socialist party, in convention assembled, makes its appeal 
to.the American people as the defender and preserver of the idea 
of liberty and self-government, in which the nation was born ; as 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 99 

the only political movement standing for the program and princi- 
ples by which the liberty of the individual may become a fact ; as 
the only political organization that is democratic, and that has for 
its purpose the democratizing of the whole of society. 

To this idea of liberty the Republican and Democratic parties 
are equally false. They alike struggle for power to maintain and 
profit by an industrial system which can be preserved only by the 
complete overthrow of such liberties as we already have, and by 
the still further enslavement and degradation of labor. 

Our American institutions came into the world in the name of 
freedom. They have been seized upon by the capitalist class as 
the means of rooting out the idea of freedom from among the people. 
Our state and national legislatures have become the mere agencies 
of great propertied interests. These interests control the appoint- 
ments and decisions of the judges of our courts. They have come 
into what is practically a private ownership of all the functions 
and forces of government. They are using these to betray and con- 
quer foreign and weaker peoples, in order to establish new markets 
for the surplus goods which the people make, but are too poor to 
buy. They are gradually so invading and restricting the right of 
suffrage as to take away unawares the right of the worker to a vote 
or voice in public affairs. By enacting new and misinterpreting 
old laws, they are preparing to attack the liberty of the individual 
even to speak or think for himself, or for the common good. 

By controlling all the sources of social revenue, the possessing 
class is able to silence what might be the voice of protest against 
the passing of liberty and the coming of tyranny. It completely 
controls the university and public school, the pulpit and the press, 
and the arts and literatures. By making these economically de- 
pendent upon itself, it has brought all the forms of public teaching 
into servile submission to its own interests. 

Our political institutions are also being used as the 'destroyers 
of that individual property upon which all liberty and opportunity 
depend. The promise of economic independence to each man was 
one of the faiths upon which our institutions were founded. But, 
under the guise of defending private property, capitalism is using 
our political institutions to make it impossible for the vast major- 
ity of human beings ever to become possessors of private property 
in the means of life. 

Capitalism is the enemy and destroyer of essential private prop- 
erty. Its development is through the legalized confiscation of all 
that the labor of the working class produces, above its subsistence- 
wage. The private ownership of the means of employment grounds 
society in an economic slavery which renders intellectual and 
political tyranny inevitable. 



100 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

Socialism comes so to organize industry and society that every 
individual shall be secure iu that private property in the means of 
life upon which his liberty of being, thought and action depend. 
It comes to rescue the people from the fast increasing and success- 
ful assault of capitalism upon the liberty of the individual. 

2. As an American socialist party, we pledge our fidelity to the 
principles of international socialism, as embodied in the united 
thought and action of the socialists of all nations. In the industrial 
development already accomplished, the interests of the world's 
■workers are separated by no national boundaries. The condition 
of the most exploited and oppressed workers, in the most remote 
places of the earth, inevitably tends to drag down all the workers 
of the world to the same level. The tendency of the competitive 
wage system is to make labor's lowest condition the measure or 
rule of its universal condition. Industry and finance are no longer 
rational but international, in both organization and results. The 
chief significance of national boundaries, and of the so-called pa- 
triotisms which the ruling class of each nation is seeking to revive, 
is the power which these give to capitalism to keep the workers 
of the world from uniting, and to throw them against each other 
in the struggles of contending capitalist interests for the control 
of the yet unexploited markets of the world, or the remaining 
sources of profit. 

The socialist movement, therefore, is a world-movement. It 
knows of no conflicts of interests between the workers of one na- 
tion and the workers of another. It stands for the freedom of the 
workei'S of all nations ; and, in so standing, it makes for the full 
freedom of all humanity. 

3. The socialist movement owes its birth and growth to that eco- 
nomic development or world-process which is rapidly separating 
a working or producing class from a possessing or capitalist class. 
The class that produces nothing possesses labor's fruits, and the 
opportunities and enjoyments these fruits afford, while the class 
that does the world's real work has increasing economic uncer-. 
tainty, and physical and intellectual misery, for its portion. 

The fact that these two classes have not yet become fully con- 
scious of their distinction from each other, the fact that the lines 
of division and interest may not yet be clearly drawn, does not 
change the fact of the class conflict. 

This class struggle is due to the private ownership of the means 
of employment, or the tools of production. "Wherever and when- 
ever man owned his own land and tools, and by them produced 
only the things which he used, economic independence was possi- 
ble. But production, or the making of goods, has long ceased to 
be individual. The labor of scores, or even thousands, enters into 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 101 

almost every article produced. Production is now social or collect- 
ive. Practically everything is made or done by many men — 
sometimes separated by seas or continents — working together for 
the same end. But this cooperation in production is not for the 
direct use of the things made by the workers who make them, but 
for the profit of the owners of the tools and means of production ; 
and to this is due the present division of society into two classes ; 
and from it have sprung all the miseries, inharmonies and contra- 
dictions of our civilization. 

Between these two classes there can be no possible compromise 
or identity of interest, any more than there can be peace in the 
midst of war, or light in the midst of darkness. A society based 
upon this class division carries in itself the seeds of its own de- 
struction. Such a society is founded in fundamental injustice. 
There can be no possible basis for social peace, for individual free- 
dom, for mental and moral harmonj', except in the conscious and 
complete triumph of the working class as the only class that has 
the right or power to be. 

4. The socialist program is not a theory imposed upon society 
for its acceptance or rejection. It is but the interpretation of what 
is, sooner or later, inevitable. Capitalism is already struggling to 
its destruction. It is no longer competent to organize or administer 
the work of the world, or even to preserve itself. The captains of 
industry are appalled at their own inability to control or direct the 
rapidly socializing forces of industry. The so-called trust is but a 
sign and form of the developing socialization of the world's work. 
The universal increase of the uncertainty of employment, the 
universal capitalist determination to break down the unity of labor 
in the trades unions, the widespread apprehensions of impending 
change, reveal that the institutions of capitalist society are pass- 
ing under the power of inhering forces that will soon destroy 
them. 

Into the midst of the strain and crisis of civilization, the social- 
ist movement comes as the only conservative force. If the world 
is to be saved from chaos, from universal disorder and misery, it 
must be by the union of the workers of all nations in the socialist 
movement. The socialist party comes with the only proposition or 
program for intelligently and deliberately organizing the nation 
for the common good of all its citizens. It is the first time that the 
mind of man has ever been directed toward the conscious organ- 
ization of society. 

Socialism means that all those things upon which the people in 
common depend shall by the people in common be owned and ad- 
ministered. It means that the tools of employment shall belong 
to their creators and users ; that all production shall be for the 



102 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

direct use of the producers ; that the making of goods for profit 
shall come to an end ; that we shall all be workers together ; and 
that all opportunities shall be open and equal to all men. 

5. To the end that the workers may seize every possible advan- 
tage that may strengthen them to gain complete control of the 
powers of government, and thereby the sooner establish the coop- 
erative commonwealth, the Socialist Party pledges itself to watch 
and work, in both the economic and the political struggle, for each 
successive immediate interest of the working class ; for shortened 
days of labor and increases of wages ; for the insurance of the 
workers against accident, sickness and lack of employment ; for 
pensions for aged and exhausted workers ; for the public owner- 
ship of the means of transportation, communication and exchange ; 
for the graduated taxation of incomes, inheritances, franchises 
and land values, the proceeds to be applied to the public employ- 
ment and improvement of the conditions of the workers ; for the 
complete education of children, and their freedom from the work- 
shop; for the prevention of the use of the military against labor 
in the settlement of strikes ; for the free administration of justice ; 
for popular government, including initiative, referendum, propor- 
tional representation, equal suffrage of men and women, munici- 
pal home rule, and the recall of officers by their constituents ; and 
for every gain or advantage for the workers that may be wrested 
from the capitalist system, and that may relieve the suffering and 
strengthen the hands of labor. We lay upon every man elected 
to any executive or legislative office the first duty of striving to 
procure whatever is for the workers' most immediate interest, and 
for whatever will lessen the economic and political powers of the 
capitalist, and increase the like powers of the worker. 

But, in so doing, we are using these remedial measures as 
means to the one great end of the cooperative commonwealth. 
Such measures of relief as we may be able to force from capital- 
ism are but a preparation of the workers to seize the whole powers 
of government, in order that they may thereby lay hold of the 
whole system of industry, and thus come into their rightful in- 
heritance. 

To this end we pledge ourselves, as the party of the working 
class, to use all political power, as fast as it shall be entrusted to 
us by our fellow-workers, both for their immediate interests and 
for their ultimate and complete emancipation. To this end we ap- 
peal to all the workers of America, and to all who will lend their 
lives to the service of the workers in their struggle to gain their 
own, and to all who will nobly and disinterestedly give their days 
and energies unto the workers' cause, to cast in their lot and faith 
with the socialist party. Our appeal for the trust and suffrages 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 103 

of our fellow-workers is at once an appeal for their common good 
and freedom, and for the freedom and blossoming of our common 
humanity. In pledging ourselves, and those we represent, to be 
faithful to the appeal which we make, we believe that we are but 
preparing the soil of that economic freedom from which will 
spring the freedom of the whole man. 

It was clear from all the proceedings of the convention that 
the members regarded the platform as of much greater import- 
ance than the nominations. In fact, there was at no time any 
doubt as to the candidates. Immediately after the adoption of 
the platform, on May 5, Eugene V. Debs, of Indiana, was 
nominated by acclamation as the candidate for President, and 
Benjamin Hanford, of New York, was, also by acclamation, 
named for Vice-President. The convention remained in session 
another day to finish its business. 

The United Christian party has for many years held an an- 
nual convention, the members of which are not in a strict 
sense delegates. The meeting in 1904 was not reported in any 
public journal, and it was not possible, even if it were import- 
ant, to ascertain how many persons attended, nor the nature 
of the proceedings, except the declaration of principles, which 
is appended. It was determined not to make any nominations, 
but to devote the energies of those present to a dissemination 
of the views of the party, which were announced as follows : — 

We, the United Christian party, in national mass convention as- 
sembled, in His name, in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, May 2, 
1904, acknowledging Almighty God as our Father and Jesus Christ 
as our leader, commander, governor and king ; believing that the 
time has now come when all Christians and patriots should unite on 
the day of election and vote direct on all questions of vital import- 
ance, and apply Christian golden rule to all government by and for 
the people, do hereby declare that the platform and purpose of the 
United Christian party is and shall be to work and stand for union 
in His name, according to the Lord's Prayer, for the fulfillment 
of God's law through direct legislation of the people governed by 
the golden rule, regardless of sex, creed, color, nationality. 

As an expression of consent or allegiance on the part of the 
governed, in harmony with the above statements — 

We also declare in favor of direct legislation providing for an 
equal standard of morals for both sexes, and most vigorously op- 
pose the traffic in girls and all forms of the social evil. 

We are opposed to war and condemn mob violence. 



104 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

We favor government ownership of coal mines, oil wells and 
public utilities. 

We are opposed to government revenue from the manufacture 
and sale of intoxicating liquor as a beverage. 

We are opposed to all trusts and combines contrary to the wel- 
fare of the common people, and declare that Christian government 
through direct legislation will regulate the trusts and labor prob- 
lem according to the golden rule. 

The convention of the Republican party, held at Chicago on 
June 21-23, was uneventful. There was no contest over either 
the platform or the candidates. It was known in advance that 
Mr. Roosevelt would be nominated for reelection with complete 
unanimity ; and as soon as the consent of Mr. Fairbanks was 
obtained to take the second place on the ticket there was no 
suggestion that any other person would be proposed. Elihu 
Root, of New York, was the temporary chairman and Joseph 
G. Cannon, of Illinois, was the permanent president of the 
convention. Each of the presiding officers made long and ela- 
borate addresses, which their eminence in the public service, 
their ability and their standing in the party combined to ren- 
der important features of the convention proceedings. On the 
second day the following platform was reported and unani- 
mously adopted : — 

Fifty years ago the Republican party came into existence, dedi- 
cated, among other purposes, to the great task of arresting the ex- 
tension of human slavery. In 1860 it elected its first President. 
During twenty-four years of the forty-four which have elapsed 
since the election of Lincoln the Republican party has held com- 
plete control of the government. For eighteen more of the forty- 
four years it has held partial control through the possession of 
one or two branches of the government, while the Democratic 
party during the same period has had complete control for only 
two years. This long tenure of power by the Republican party is 
not due to chance. It is a demonstration that the Republican party 
has commanded the confidence of the American people for nearly 
two generations to a degree never equalled in our history, and has 
displayed a high capacity for rule and government which has 
been made even more conspicuous by the incapacity and infirmity 
of purpose shown by its opponents. 

The Republican party entered upon its present period of com- 
plete supremacy in 1897. We have every right to congratulate our- 
selves upon the work since then accomplished, for it has added 
lustre even to the traditions of the party which carried the Gov- 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOiND ELECTION" 105 

eminent through the storms of civil war. We then found the 
country, after four years of Democratic rule, in evil plight, op- 
pressed with misfortune, and doubtful of the future. Public credit 
had been lowered, the revenues were declining, the debt was grow- 
ing, the Administration's attitude toward Spain was feeble and 
mortifying, the standard of values was threatened and uncertain, 
labor was unemployed, business was sunk in the depression which 
had succeeded the panic of 1893, hope was faint, and confidence 
was gone. 

We met these unhappy conditions vigorously, effectively and at 
once. We replaced a Democratic tariif law based on free-trade 
principles and garnished with sectional protection by a consistent 
protective tariif, and industry, fi-eed from suppression and stimu- 
lated by the encouragement of wise laws, has expanded to a degree 
never before known, has conquered new markets and has created 
a volume of exports which has surpassed imagination. Under 
the Dingley Tariff labor has been fully employed, wages have 
risen and all industries have revived and prospered. 

We firmly established the gold standard, which was then men- 
aced with destruction. Confidence returned to business, and with 
confidence an unexampled prosperity. For deficient revenues sup- 
plemented by improvident issues of bonds we gave the country an 
income which produced a large surplus, and which enabled us only 
four years after the Spanish War had closed to remove over one 
hundred millions of annual war taxes, reduce the public debt and 
lower the interest charges of the Government. The public credit, 
which had been so lowered that in time of peace a Democratic ad- 
ministration made large loans at extravagant rates of interest in 
order to pay current expenditures, rose under Republican admin- 
istration to its highest point, and enabled us to borrow at 2 per 
cent., even in time of war. 

We refused to palter longer with the miseries of Cuba. We fought 
a quick and victorious war with Spain. We set Cuba free, governed 
the island for three years, and then gave it to the Cuban people 
with order restored, with ample revenues, with education and pub- 
lic health established, free from debt, and connected with the 
United States by wise provisions for our mutual interests. 

We have organized the government of Porto Rico, and its people 
now enjoy peace, freedom, order and prosperity. 

In the Philippines we have suppressed insurrection, established 
order, and given to life and property a security never known there 
before. We have organized civil government, made it effective and 
strong in administration, and have conferred upon the people of 
those islands the largest civil liberty they have ever enjoyed. By 
our possession of the Philippines we were enabled to take prompt 



106 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

and effective action in the relief of the legations at Peking, and a 
decisive part in preventing the partition and preserving the integr 
rity of China. 

The possession of a route for an Isthmian canal, so long thp 
dream of American statesmanship, is now an accomplished fact. 
The great work of connecting the Pacilic and Atlantic by a canal 
is at last begun, and it is due to the Republican party. 

We have passed laws which will bring the arid lands of the 
United States within the area of cultivation. 

We have reorganized the army and put it in the highest state of 
efficiency. 

We have passed laws for the improvement and support of the 
militia. 

We have pushed forward the building of the navy, the defence 
and protection of our honor and our interests. 

Our administration of the great departments of the Government 
has been honest and efficient, and wherever wrongdoing has been 
discovered the Republican administration has not hesitated to 
probe the evil and bring offenders to justice without regard to 
party or political ties. 

Laws enacted by the Republican party which the Democratic 
party failed to enforce, and which were intended for the protection 
of the public against the unjust discrimination or the illegal en- 
croachment of vast aggregations of capital, have been fearlessly 
enforced by a Republican President, and new laws insuring reason- 
able publicity as to the operations of great corporations and pro- 
viding additional remedies for the prevention of discrimination in 
freight rates have been passed by a Republican Congress. 

In this record of achievement during the past eight years may 
be read the pledges which the Republican party has fulfilled. We 
promise to continue these policies and we declare our constant ad- 
herence to the following principles : 

Protection which guards and develops our industries is a car- 
dinal policy of the Republican party. The measure of protection 
should always at least equal the difference in the cost of produc- 
tion at home and abroad. We insist upon the maintenance of the 
principles of protection, and therefore rates of duty should be re- 
adjusted only when conditions have so changed that the public 
interest demands their alteration, but this work cannot safely be 
committed to any other hands than those of the Republican party. 
To intrust it to the Democratic party is to invite disaster. Whether, 
as in 1S92, the Democratic party declares the protective tariff 
unconstitutional, or whether it demands tariff reform or tariff 
revision, its real object is always the destruction of the protective 
system. However specious the name, the purpose is ever the 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 107 

same. A Democratic tariff has always been followed by busi- 
ness adversity ; a Republican tariff by business prosperity. To a 
Republican Congress and a Republican President this great ques- 
tion can be safely intrusted. When the only free-trade country 
among the great nations agitates a return to protection, the chief 
protective country should not falter in maintaining it. 

We have extended widely our foreign markets, and we believe 
in the adoption of all practicable methods for their further exten- 
sion, including commercial reciprocity wherever reciprocal arrange- 
ments can be effected consistent with the principles of protection, 
and without injury to American agriculture, American labor or 
any American industry. 

We believe it to be the duty of the Republican party to uphold 
the gold standard and the integrity and value of our national cur- 
rency. The maintenance of the gold standard, established by the 
Republican party, cannot safely be committed to the Democratic 
party, which resisted its adoption, and has never given any proof 
since that time of belief in it or fidelity to it. 

While every other industry has prospered under the fostering aid 
of Republican legislation, American shipping engaged in foreign 
trade, in competition with the low cost of construction, low wages 
and heavy subsidies of foreign governments, has not for many years 
received from the Government of the United States adequate en- 
couragement of any kind. We therefore favor legislation which 
will encourage and build up the American merchant marine, and 
we cordially approve the legislation of the last Congress, which 
created the IMerchant Marine Commission to investigate and report 
upon this subject. 

A navy powerful enough to defend the United States against any 
attack, to uphold the Monroe Doctrine, and to watch over our com- 
merce, is essential to the safety and the welfare of the American 
people. To maintain such a navy is the fixed policy of the Repub- 
lican party. 

We cordially approve the attitude of President Roosevelt and 
Congress in regard to the exclusion of Chinese labor and promise 
a continuance of the Republican policy in that direction. 

The Civil Service Law was placed on the statute books by the 
Republican party, which has always sustained it, and we renew our 
former declarations that it shall be thoroughly and honestly en- 
forced. 

We are always mindful of the country's debt to the soldiers and 
sailors of the United States, and we believe in making ample provi- 
sion for them, and in the liberal administration of the pension laws. 

W^e favor the peaceful settlement of international differences by 
arbitration. 



108 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

We commend the vigorous efforts made by the Administration 
to protect American citizens in foreign lands and pledge ourselves 
to insist upon the just and equal protection of all our citizens 
abroad. It is the unquestioned duty of the Government to procure 
for all our citizens, without distinction, the rights of travel and so- 
journ in friendly countries, and we declare ourselves in favor of all 
proper efforts tending to that end. 

Our great interests and our growing commerce in the Orient 
render the condition of China of high importance to the United 
States. We cordially commend the policy pursued in that direction 
by the Administrations of President McKinley and President 
Roosevelt. 

We favor such Congressional action as shall determine whether 
by special discriminations the elective franchise in any State has 
been unconstitutionally limited, and if such is the case, we demand 
that representation in Congress and in the Electoral College shall 
be proportionately reduced as directed by the Constitution of the 
United States. 

Combinations of capital and of labor are the results of the eco- 
nomic movement of the age, but neither must be permitted to in- 
fringe upon the rights and interests of the people. Such combina- 
tions, when lawfully formed for lawful purposes, are alike entitled 
to the protection of the laws, but both are subject to the laws, and 
neither can be permitted to break them. 

The great statesman and patriotic American, William McKinley, 
who was reelected by the Republican party to the Presidency four 
years ago, was assassinated just at the threshold of his second term. 
The entire nation mourned his untimely death, and did that jus- 
tice to his great qualities of mind and character which history will 
confirm and repeat. 

The American people were fortunate in his successor, to whom 
they turned with a trust and confidence which have been fully 
justified. President Roosevelt brought to the great responsibilities 
thus sadly forced upon him a clear head, a brave heart, an earnest 
patriotism and high ideals of public duty and public service. True 
to the principles of the Republican party and to the policies which 
that party had declared, he has also shown himself ready for every 
emergency and has met new and vital questions with ability and 
with success. 

The confidence of the people in his justice, inspired by his public 
career, enabled him to render personally an inestimable service to 
the country by bringing about a settlement of the coal strike, 
which threatened such disastrous results at the opening of Winter 
in 1902. 

Our foreign policy under his administration has not only been 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 109 

able, vigorous and dignified, but in the highest degree successfuL 
The complicated questions which arose in Venezuela were settled 
in such a way by President Roosevelt that the Monroe Doctrine 
was signally vindicated, and the cause of peace and arbitration 
greatly advanced. 

His prompt and vigorous action in Panama, which we commend 
in the highest terms, not only secured to us the canal route but 
avoided foreign complications which might have been of a very 
serious character. 

He has continued the policy of President McKinley in the Orient 
and our position in China, signalized by our recent commercial 
treaty with that empire, has never been so high. 

He secured the tribunal by which the vexed and perilous ques- 
tion of the Alaskan boundary was finally settled. 

Whenever crimes against humanity have been perpetrated which 
have shocked our people, his protest has been made and our good 
offices have been tendered, but always with due regard to interna- 
tional obligations. 

Under his guidance we find ourselves at peace with all the world, 
and never were we more respected or our wishes more regarded by 
foreign nations. 

Preeminently successful in regard to our foreign relations, he 
Jias been equally fortunate in dealing with domestic questions. The 
country has known that the public credit and the national currency 
were absolutely safe in the hands of his Administration. In the 
enforcement of the laws he has shown not only courage, but the 
wisdom which understands that to permit laws to be violated or 
disregarded opens the door to anarchy, while the just enforcement 
of the law is the soundest conservatism. He has held firmly to the 
fundamental American doctrine that all men must obey the law; 
that there must be no distinction between rich and poor, between 
strong and weak ; but that justice and equal protection under the 
law must be secured to every citizen without regard to race, creed 
or condition. 

His administration has been throughout vigorous and honor- 
able, high-minded and patriotic. We commend it without reserva- 
tion to the considerate judgment of the American people. 

On June 23, Theodore Roosevelt, of New York, was nomi- 
nated as the candidate for President by a unanimous viva voce 
vote of the 994 delegates of the convention. Charles Warren 
Fairbanks, of Indiana, was nominated by acclamation as the 
candidate for Vice-President. 

The Prohibition party held its convention at Indianapolis on 
June 29. There were 704 delegates in attendance, of whom 



110 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

about 60 were women. Most of the States were represented in 
whole or in part, — all but three, North Carolina, South Caro- 
lina and Louisiana, according to one account ; according to an- 
other, there were no delegates present from Montana or Utah. 
Homer L. Castle, of Pennsylvania, was the temporary chair- 
man, and A. G. Wolfenbarger, of Nebraska, the permanent 
president of the convention. The committee on resolutions had 
great difficulty in coming to an agreement on the platform. It 
will be seen that those who urged that special, almost exclu- 
sive, stress should be laid upon the importance of prohibition 
won a victory over those who favored a more general platform, 
similar to those in some earlier canvasses. But the platform 
was generally approved, and was ultimately adopted by a unan- 
imous vote, as follows : — 

The Prohibition party, in national convention assembled, at In- 
dianapolis, June 30, 1904, recognizing that the chief end of all 
government is the establishment of those principles of righteous- 
ness and justice which have been revealed to men as the will of the 
ever-living God, desiring His blessing upon our national life, and 
believing in the perpetuation of the high ideals of government of the 
people, by the people and for the people, established by our fathers, 
makes the following declaration of principles and purposes : 

The widely prevailing system of the licensed and legalized sale 
of alcoholic beverages is so ruinous to individual interests, so inimi- 
cal to public welfare, so destructive of national wealth and so sub- 
versive of the rights of great masses of our citizenship, that the 
destruction of the traffic is, and for years has been, the most im- 
portant question in American politics. 

We denounce the lack of statesmanship exhibited by the leaders 
of the Democratic and Republican parties in their refusal to re- 
cognize the paramount importance of this question, and the cow- 
ardice with which the leaders of these parties have courted the 
favor of those whose selfish interests are advanced by the continu- 
ation and augmentation of the traffic, until to-day the influence of 
the liquor traffic practically dominates national. State and local 
government throughout the nation. 

We declare the truth, demonstrated by the experience of half a 
century, that all methods of dealing with the liquor traffic which 
recognize its right to exist, in any form, under any system of li- 
cense or tax or regulation, have proved powerless to remove its 
evils, and useless as checks upon its growth, while the insignificant 
public revenues which have accrued therefrom have seared the 
public conscience against a recognition of its iniquity. 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 111 

We call public attention to the fact, proved by the experience 
of more than fifty years, that to secure the enactment and enforce- 
ment of prohibitory legislation, in which alone lies the hope of the 
protection of the people from the liquor traffic, it is necessary that 
the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government 
should be in the hands of a political party in harmony with the 
prohibition principle, and pledged to its embodiment in law, and 
to the execution of those laws. 

We pledge the Prohibition party, wherever given power by the 
suffrages of the people, to the enactment and enforcement of laws 
prohibiting and abolishing the manufacture, importation, trans- 
portation and sale of alcoholic beverages. 

We declare that there is not only no other issue of equal im- 
portance before the American people to-day, but that the so-called 
issues upon which the Democratic and Republican parties seek 
to divide the electorate of the country are, in large part, subter- 
fuges under the cover of which they wrangle for the spoils of 
office. 

Recognizing that the intelligent voters of the country may pro- 
perly ask our attitude upon other questions of public concern, we 
declare ourselves in favor of : 

The impartial enforcement of all law. 

The safeguarding of the people's rights by a rigid application 
of the principles of justice to all combinations and organizations 
of capital and labor. 

The recognition of the fact that the right of suffrage should de- 
pend upon the mental and moral qualifications of the citizen. 

A more intimate relation between the people and government, 
by a wise application of the principle of the initiative and refer- 
endum. 

Such changes in our laws as will place tariff schedules in the 
hands of an omnipartisan commission. 

The application of uniform laws to all our country and depend- 
encies. 

The election of United States Senators by vote of the people. 

The extension and honest administration of the civil service 
laws. 

The safeguarding of every citizen in every place under the gov- 
ernment of the people of the United States, in all the rights guar- 
anteed by the laws and the Constitution. 

International arbitration, and we declare that our nation should 
contribute, in every manner consistent with national dignity, to 
the permanent establishment of peace between all nations. 

The reform of our divorce laws, the final extirpation of poly- 
gamy, and the total overthrow of the present shameful system of 



112 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

the illegal sanction of the social evil, with its unspeakable traffic 
in girls, by the municipal authorities of almost all our cities. 

When the convention met there was a strong, but by no means 
unanimous, sentiment in favor of the nomination of General 
Nelson A. Miles for President. It was opposed on the ground 
that General Miles had never declared himself to be a Pro- 
hibitionist. It was discouraged by the general himself, who, 
knowing what was proposed, urged, in a letter to Mr. John G. 
Woolley, of Chicago, that action by the convention should be 
postponed until after the nominations by the Republican and 
Democratic parties should have been made. Some of his sug- 
gestions in the same letter as to the proper policy for the Pro- 
hibition party to adopt, were not well received. As the sug- 
gestions were not followed in the platform, General Miles sent 
a telegram positively declining to accept the nomination. The 
Miles candidacy had caused a somewhat angry factional con- 
troversy, which ended suddenly upon the receipt of the general's 
telegram, and Silas C. Swallow, of Pennsylvania, was then 
nominated for President by acclamation. There was but one 
vote by the convention, for Vice-President. George W. Carroll, 
of Texas, received 626 votes, to 132 for Isaiah H. Amos, of 
Oregon. The fact that the total number was greater than the 
number of delegates, has the usual explanation, that the dele- 
gates present from a State cast the whole number of votes to 
which the State was entitled. 

The Socialist-Labor party held its convention in New York 
City on July 2 and the six following days. Forty-one delegates, 
representing eighteen States, composed the convention. Mr. 
William W. Cox, of Illinois, was the temporary Chairman. 
Under the permanent organization there was a different Chair- 
man and vice-chairman on each day. There seem to have been 
long but not by any means angry debates upon a great variety 
of matters. The platform, which was reported late on July 3, 
was discussed, paragraph by paragraph, the next day, and finally 
adopted in the form given it by the Committee on Resolutions, 
as follows : — 

The Socialist Labor party of America, in convention assembled, 
reasserts the inalienable right of man to life, liberty and the pur- 
suit of happiness. 

We hold that the purpose of government is to secure to every 
citizen the enjoyment of this right : but taught by experience we 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 113 

hold furthermore that such right is ilhisory to the majority of the 
people, to wit, the working class, under the present system of 
economic inequality that is essentially destructive of their life, 
their liberty and their happiness. 

We hold that the true theory of politics is that the machinery of 
government must be controlled by the whole people ; but again 
taught by experience we hold furthermore that the true theory of 
economics is that the means of production must likewise be owned, 
operated and controlled by the people in common. Man cannot 
exercise his right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness with- 
out the ownership of the land on and the tool with which to work. 
Deprived of these, his life, his liberty and his fate fall into the hands 
of the class that owns those essentials for work and production. 

We hold that the existing contradiction between the theory of 
democratic government and the fact of a despotic economic system 
— the private ownership of the natural and social opportunities — 
divides the people into two classes, the capitalist class and the 
working class ; throws society into the convulsions of the class 
struggle, and perverts government to the exclusive benefit of the 
capitalist class. 

Thus labor is robbed of the wealth which it alone produces, is 
denied the means of self-employment, and, by compulsory idleness 
in wage slavery, is even deprived of the necessaries of life. 

Against such a system the Socialist Labor party raises the banner 
of revolt, and demands the unconditional surrender of the capital- 
ist class. 

The time is fast coming when, in the natural course of social 
evolution, this system, through the destructive action of its failures 
and crises on the one hand, and the constructive tendencies of its 
trusts and other capitalist combinations on the other hand, will 
have worked out its own downfall. 

We, therefore, call upon the wage workers of America to organ- 
ize under the banner of the Socialist Labor party into a class- 
conscious body, aware of its rights and determined to conquer them. 

And we also call upon all other intelligent citizens to place them- 
selves squarely upon the ground of working class interests, and 
join us in this mighty and noble work of human emancipation, so 
that we may put summary end to the existing barbarous class con- 
flict by placing the land and all the means of production, transpor- 
tation and distribution into the hands of the people as a collective 
body, and substituting the cooperative commonwealth for the 
present state of planless production, industrial war and social dis- 
order — a commonwealth in which every worker shall have the 
free exercise and full benefit of his faculties, multiplied by all the 
modern factors of civilization. 



114 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

On July 6 the convention nominated for President of the 
United States Charles H. Corregan, of New York ; for Vice- 
President, William W. Cox, of Illinois. It remained in session 
two days longer amending the constitution of the party and 
discussing the attitude which should be taken toward trade- 
unionism, — a subject which — as has been noted — occupied 
the attention of the rival Socialist party. The viev/s of the 
Socialist-Labor party may fairly be inferred from a single 
paragraph of its pronouncement on the topic : " So far from 
drilling the working class in the theoretic understanding of its 
interests, Gompers unionism befogs the workingman's intellect 
with capitalistic economics, and it hounds Socialist or working 
class economics out of its camp, under the false pretence that 
such economic teachings are ' politics,' and that they ' divide 
the working class.' " 

The Populist party held its convention at Springfield, Illinois, 
on July 4 and 5. The date seems to have been fixed to signify 
the intention of those who controlled the organization to have 
nothing to do with the Democratic party in the approaching 
canvass. They saw, as the whole country saw, that the Demo- 
crats were about to rid themselves, for that occasion at least, 
of what a prominent member of the party referred to as " the 
taint of populism." Consequently the Populists who had not 
already joined the Democratic party were practically all of the 
" middle-of-the-road " faction. Only once in the convention 
was the suggestion made that it might be well to postpone 
action until it should be seen whether the Hearst partisans 
were not a majority of the Democratic delegates. But even that 
proposition was shouted down with cries — " No, no ; get into 
the Democratic party, where you belong." There was no hope 
of an alliance with that party. 

"About three hundred" delegates are said to have consti- 
tuted the Populist convention. Twenty-four States and two 
territories were represented on the general committees. That ' 
most of the members were residents in States of the central 
west is evident from the fact that the same person was ap- 
pointed a member of all four committees from each of the 
States of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Mississippi, 
Wisconsin, South Dakota, and Washington — in all probabil- 
ity because there was but one representative from each of 
those States. Pennsylvania had apparently two delegates in 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 115 

attendance. The one member from Massachusetts was the only 
New England man in the convention. L. H. Weller, of Iowa, 
was the temporary chairman, and J. M. Mallett, of Texas, the 
permanent President. The committee on resolutions held two 
protracted sessions, the first lasting until three o'clock in the 
morning of July 5, and the second nearly the whole of that 
day from early forenoon until late afternoon. The platform, 
when it was ready, was received with great applause and was 
unanimously adopted as follows : — 

The People's party reaffirms its adherence to the basic truths of 
the Omaha platform of 1892, and of the subsequent platforms 
of 1896 and 1900. In session in its fourth national convention on 
July 4, 1904, in the city of Springfield, 111., it draws inspiration 
from the day that saw the birth of the nation as well as its own 
birth as a party, and also from the soul of him who lived at its 
.present place of meeting. We renew our allegiance to the old-fash- 
ioned American spirit that gave this nation existence, and made 
it distinctive among the peoples of the earth. We again sound the 
key-note of the Declaration of Independence that all men are cre- 
ated equal in a political sense, which was the sense in which that 
instrument, being a political document, intended that the utter- 
ance should be understood. We assert that the departure from this 
fundamental truth is responsible for the ills from which we suf- 
fer as a nation, that the giving of special privileges to the few has 
enabled them to dominate the many, thereby tending to destroy 
the political equality which is the corner-stone of democratic gov- 
ernment. 

Holding fast to the truths of the fathers we vigorously protest 
against the spirit of mammonism and of thinly veiled monarchy 
that is invading certain sections of our national life, and of the 
very administration itself. This is a nation of peace, and we 
deplore the appeal to the spirit of force and militarism which 
is shown in ill-advised and vainglorious boasting and in more 
harmful ways in the denial of the rights of man under martial 
law. 

A political democracy and an industrial despotism cannot exist 
side by side ; and nowhere is this truth more plainly shown than 
in the gigantic transportation monopolies which have bred all sorts 
of kindred trusts, subverted the governments of many of the 
States, or established their official agents in the National Govern- 
ment. We submit that it is better for the Government to own the 
railroads than for the railroads to own the Government, and that 
one <w the other alternative seems inevitable. 

W,e &.qU th3 .attention of our felloe-citizens to the fact that the 



116 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

surrender of both of the old parties to corporative influences leaves 
the People's party the only party of reform in the nation. 

Therefore vi^e submit the following platform of principles to the 
American people : — 

The issuing of money is a function of government, and should 
never be delegated to corporations or individuals. The Constitu- 
tion gives to Congress alone power to issue money and regulate its 
value. 

We therefore demand that all money shall be issued by the 
Government in such quantity as shall maintain a stability in prices, 
every dollar to be full legal tender, none of which shall be a debt 
redeemable in other money. 

We demand that postal savings banks be established by the 
Government for the safe deposit of the savings of the people. 

We believe in the right of labor to organize for the benefit and 
protection of those who toil ; and pledge the efforts of the People's 
party to preserve this right inviolate. Capital is organized and has 
no right to deny to labor the privilege which it claims for itself. 
We feel that intelligent organization of labor is essential ; that it 
raises the standard of workmanship ; promotes the efficiency, in- 
telligence, independence and character of the wage earner. We 
believe with Abraham Lincoln that labor is prior to capital, and 
is not its slave, but its companion, and we plead for that broad 
spirit of toleration and justice which will promote industrial peace 
through the observance of the principles of voluntary arbitration. 

We favor the enactment of legislation looking to the improve- 
ment of conditions for wage earners, the abolition of child labor, 
the suppression of sweat shops, and of convict labor in competi- 
tion with free labor, and the exclusion from American shores of 
foreign pauper labor. 

We favor the shorter work day, and declare that if eight hours 
constitute a day's labor in Government service, that eight hours 
should constitute a day's labor in factories, workshops and mines. 

As a means of placing all public questions directly under the 
control of the people, we demand that legal provision be made 
under which the people may exercise the initiative, referendum 
and proportional representation and direct vote for all public offi- 
cers with the right of recall. 

Land, including all the natural sources of wealth, is a heritage 
of all the people, and should not be monopolized for speculative 
purposes, and alien ownership of land should be prohibited. 

We demand a return to the original interpretation of the Con- 
stitution and a fair and impartial enforcement of laws under it, 
and denounce government by injunction and imprisonment with- 
out the right of trial by jury. 



I 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 117 

To prevent unjust discrimination and monopoly the Govern- 
ment should own and control the railroads, and those public utili- 
ties which in their nature are monopolies. To perfect the postal 
service, the Government should own and operate the general tele- 
graph and telephone systems and provide a parcels post. 

As to these trusts and monopolies which are not public utilities 
or natural monopolies, we demand that those special privileges 
which they now enjoy, and which alone enables them to exist, 
should be immediately withdrawn. Corporations being the crea- 
tures of government should be subjected to such governmental 
regulations and control as will adequately protect the public. We 
demand the taxation of monopoly privileges, while they remain in 
private hands, to the extent of the value of the privileges granted. 

We demand that Congress shall enact a general law uniformly 
regulating the power and duties of all incorporated companies 
doing interstate business. 

Thomas E. Watson, of Georgia, who was Bryan's " running 
mate " on the Populist ticket, in 1896, was nominated for Pres- 
ident, and Thomas H. Tibbies, of Nebraska, was the candidate 
for Vice-President. 

The national convention of the Democratic party was held 
at Chicago on July 6 and the following days. The situation 
prior to the opening of the convention appeared to be chaotic, 
but appearances were deceitful. In fact the issue was at no 
time in doubt. The earnest opposition of Mr. Bryan to the 
nomination of Judge Parker has already been mentioned. He 
did not cease from that opposition. In a letter written a month 
before the convention, dated June 9, and immediately pub- 
lished, he wrote, among other things, " it is the first time, in 
recent years at least, that a man has been urged to so high a 
position on the ground that his opinions are unknown." On the 
20th of June he made a speech to a great gathering in New 
York City, in which he attacked the candidacy of Judge 
Parker most vehemently, and in a graphic and eloquent man- 
ner enumerated the issues of the time on which the opinions 
of Mr. Parker had not been announced, — coinage, imperial- 
ism, tariff, the trusts, and other live political topics. If he did 
not express his hope in so many words he allowed the " inter- 
viewers " of the press who thronged about him to understand 
that his policy would be to persuade the convention to frame 
such a platform that Judge Parker would refuse to stand on it. 
The opposition of Tammany Hall to Parker was open and pro- 
nounced. Whether that organization, with a prospect of sue- 



118 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

cess before it, would have favored the nomination of Mr. 
Hearst, is purely a matter of conjecture. At all events the os- 
tensible purpose of Tammany was to urge the selection of 
Mayor George B. McClellan. 

Nor was this the only opposition — outspoken or secret — 
that the movement against Parker encountered. The friends of 
Senator Gorman, of Maryland, who undoubtedly sympathized 
with the movement to eliminate radicalism from the party, 
endeavored with little success to promote his candidacy. The 
proceedings in the selection of delegates in Illinois were little 
short of riotous, and led to a contest for the seats which was 
carried into the convention and decided by a roll-call vote. In 
several of the States propositions to endorse the candidacy of 
Judge Parker were decisively defeated. 

In spite of all this the friends of Parker were confident: 
The canvass in his favor was in the expert hands of Governor 
David B. Hill, whose leadership and control were plainly evi- 
dent to observers of the events just preceding the opening of 
the session. Those who had drawn '•' planks " for the platform 
consulted him, and were hopeful or disappointed according to 
his treatment of them. Although hardly more than a third of 
the delegates were "instructed" for Parker, he assured all 
comers that the nomination of his candidate was certain. 

John Sharp Williams, of Mississippi, was the temporary 
chairman, and Champ Clark, of Missouri, the permanent pres- 
ident of the convention. The first important business was to 
determine the right of delegates to seats. The committee on 
credentials reported in favor of the Parker delegates from the 
contested districts of Illinois. There was a minority report, in 
favor of the Hearst delegates, and Mr. Bryan argued at length 
in support of their rights. He was received with general and 
enthusiastic applause when he entered the convention and be- 
gan his speech ; but when the question was put to vote he was 
defeated by 299 to 647. That was the first test vote in the 
convention and it indicated the ultimate result. More than two^ 
thirds of the convention was against Mr. Bryan. The decision 
was of no practical importance, as the Illinois State Conven- 
tion had directed the delegation to cast its vote as a unit for 
Mr. Hearst, and its vote was so given. But the test vote indi- 
cated clearly the temper of the convention. 

There was an almost unprecedented struggle in the framing 
of the platform by the Committee on Resolutions. Indeed that 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 119 

committee was a most remarkable one in the political pro- 
minence of a large number of its members. Besides Governor 
Hill and Mr. Bryan, the membership included Senators Bailey, 
Carmack, Daniel, Dubois, Newlands, and Tillman, ex-Senators 
H. G. Davis, of West Virginia, and Pettigrew, and John S. 
Williams, the Democratic leader in the House of Representa- 
tives, as well as many other men of great prominence in their 
respective States. A subcommittee was appointed which con- 
sidered at great length a draft of a platform which had been 
prepared, and finally reported the result of its deliberations to 
the full committee. The tentative platform contained a para- 
graph setting forth that as there had been in recent years an 
enormous increase in the production of gold, of which the 
United States had obtained a large share, the question of the 
monetary standard had ceased to be a political issue. The 
"plank" was extremely offensive to Mr. Bryan, who desired 
and moved that the declaration of the two preceding national 
conventions on the subject of silver be repeated. In that mat- 
ter he had no support ; but he did argue most strenuously 
against the adoption of the " gold plank." He also wished to 
have included in the platform a declaration in favor of an in- 
come tax, but in this he was stoutly opposed by Governor 
Hill. At last the proposition was made that both the gold plank 
and the income tax plank be omitted. The committee voted — 
35 to 15 — to drop the reference to gold, and to make no de- 
claration whatever on the question of a money standard. Mr. 
Bryan then withdrew his income tax proposition, and the plat- 
form was ready to be reported. The committee had been in 
continuous session for sixteen hours — from eight o'clock in 
the evening of Thursday, July 7, until nearly noon of Friday. 
When the convention assembled on Friday evening, at 8 
o'clock, the platform was read and unanimously adopted. Sen- 
ator Daniel, of Virginia, who reported it, laid particular stress 
upon the fact that the committee also was unanimous. The 
platform was as follows : — 

The Democratic party of the United States, in national conven- 
tion assembled, declares its devotion to the essential principles of 
the Democratic faith which brings us together in party communion. 

Under them, local self-government and national unity and pro- 
sperity were alike established. They underlaid our independence, 
the structure of our free Republic, and every Democratic extension 
from Louisiana to California and Texas to Oregon, which pre- 



120 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

served faithfully in all the States the tie between taxation and 
representation. They yet inspire the masses of our people, guard- 
ing jealously their rights and liberties and cherishing their fra- 
ternity, peace and orderly development. 

They remind us of our duties and responsibilities as citizens, 
and impress upon us, particularly at this time, the necessity of re- 
form and the rescue of the administration of government from 
the headstrong, arbitrary and spasmodic methods which distract 
business by uncertainty, and pervade the public mind with dread, 
distrust and perturbation. 

Wherever there may exist a people incapable of being governed 
under American laws, in consonance with the American Constitu- 
tion, the territory of that people ought not to be part of the Amer- 
ican domain. We insist that we ought to do for the Filipinos 
■what we have already done for the Cubans, and it is our duty to 
make that protnise now, and upon suitable guarantees of protec- 
tion to citizens of our own and other countries resident there at 
the time of our withdrawal, set the Filipino people upon their 
feet free and independent to work out their own destiny. 

The endeavor of the Secretary of War by pledging the govern- 
ment's indorsement for "promoters" in the Philippine Islands to 
make the United States a partner in speculative legislation of the 
archipelago, which was only temporarily held up by the opposi- 
tion of the Democratic Senators in the last session, will, if success- 
ful, lead to entanglements from which it will be difficult to escape. 

The Democratic party has been and will continue to be the con- 
sistent opponent of that class of tariff legislation by which certain 
interests have been permitted through Congressional favor to draw 
heavy tribute from the American people. This monstrous perver- 
sion of those equal opportunities which our political institutions 
were established to secure, has caused what may once have been 
infant industries to become the greatest combinations of capital 
that the world has ever known. These especial favorites of the 
government have, through trust methods, been converted into mo- 
nopolies, thus bringing to an end domestic competition which was 
the only alleged check upon the extravagant profits made possible 
by the protective system. These industrial combinations by the 
financial assistance they can give, now control the policy of the 
Republican party. We denounce protection as a robbery of the 
many to enrich the few and we favor a tariff limited to the needs 
of the government, economically administered and so levied as 
not to discriminate against any industry, class or section, to the 
end that the burdens of taxation shall be distributed as equally as 
possible. 

We favor a revision and a gradual reduction of the tariff by the 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 121 

friends of the masses and for the common weal, and not by the 
friends of its abuses, its extortions and its discriminations, keep- 
ing in view the ultimate ends of " equality of burdens and equality 
of opportunities" and the constitutional purpose of raising a reve- 
nue by taxation — to wit, the support of the federal government 
in all its integrity and virility, but in simplicity. 

We recognize that the gigantic trusts and combinations designed 
to enable capital to secure more than its just share of the joint 
products of capital and labor, and which have been fostered and 
promoted under Republican rule, are a menace to beneficial com- 
petition and an obstacle to permanent business prosperity. A pri- 
vate monopoly is indefensible and intolerable. Individual equality 
of opportunity and free competition are essential to a healthy and 
permanent commercial prosperity, and any trust, combination or 
monopoly tending to destroy these, by controlling production, re- 
stricting competition or fixing prices should be prohibited and 
punished by law. We especially denounce rebates and discrimina- 
tion by transportation companies. 

As the most potent agency in promoting and strengthening these 
unlawful conspiracies against trade, we demand an enlargement 
of the powers of the Interstate Commission to the end that the 
travelling public and shippers of this country may have prompt 
and adequate relief k)r the abuses to which they are subjected in 
the matter of transportation. We demand a strict enforeement of 
existing civil and criminal statutes against all such trusts, combi- 
nations and monopolies, and we demand the enactment of such 
further legislation as may be necessary to effectually suppress them. 

Any trust or unlawful combination engaged in interstate com- 
merce which is monopolizing any branch of business or production 
should not be permitted to transact business outside of the State 
of its origin. Whenever it shall be established in any court of 
competent jurisdiction that such monopolization exists, such 
prohibition should be enforced through comprehensive laws to be 
enacted on the subject. 

We congratulate our Western citizens upon the passage of the 
Newlands irrigation act for the irrigation and reclamation of the 
arid lands at the West, a measure framed by a Democrat, passed 
in the Senate by a non-partisan vote and passed in the House 
against the opposition of almost all the Republican leaders by a 
vote the majority of which was Democratic. 

We call attention to this great Democratic measure, broad and 
comprehensive as it is, working automatically throughout all time, 
without further action of Congress, until the reclamation of all 
the land in the arid West capable of reclamation is accomplished, 
reserving the lands i-eclaimed for homeseekers in small tracts, and 



122 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

rigidly guarding against land monopoly, as an evidence of the 
policy of domestic development contemplated by the Democratic 
party should it be placed in power. 

The Democracy when intrusted with power will construct the 
Panama Canal speedily, honestly and economically, thereby giv- 
ing to our people what Democrats have always contended for — 
a great interoceanic canal, furnishing shorter and cheaper lines of 
transportation and broader and less trammelled trade relations 
with the other peoples of the world. 

We pledge ourselves to insist upon the just and lawful protection 
of our citizens at home and abroad, and to use all proper measures 
to secure for them, whether native-born or naturalized, and with- 
out distinction of race or creed, the equal protection of laws and 
the enjoyment of all rights and privileges open to them under the 
covenants of our treaties of friendship and commerce ; and if under 
existing treaties the right of travel and sojourn is denied to Amer- 
ican citizens, or recognition is withheld from American passports 
by any countries on the ground of race or creed, we favor the be- 
ginning of negotiations with the governments of such countries to 
secure by new treaties the removal of these unjust discriminations. 
We demand that all over the world a duly authenticated passport 
issued by the Government of the United States to an American 
citizen shall be proof of the fact that he is an American citizen 
and shall entitle him to the treatment due him as such. 

We favor the election of United States Senators by the direct 
vote of the people. 

We favor the admission of the territory of Oklahoma and the 
Indian Territory. We also favor the immediate admission of Ari- 
zona and New Mexico as separate States, and a territorial govern- 
ment for Alaska and Porto Rico. We hold that the officials 
appointed to administer the government of any territory as well as 
the District of Alaska should be bona fide residents at the time of 
their appointment of the Territory or District in which their 
duties are to be performed. 

We demand the extermination of polygamy within the jurisdic- 
tion of the United States and the complete separation of church 
and state in political affairs. 

We denounce the ship subsidy bill recently passed by the United 
States Senate as an iniquitous appropriation of public funds for 
private purposes and a wasteful, illogical and useless attempt to 
overcome by subsidy the obstructions raised by Republican legis- 
lation to the growth and development of American commerce on 
the sea. We favor the upbuilding of a merchant marine without 
new or additional burdens upon the people and without bounties 
from the public treasury. 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 123 

We favor liberal trade arrangements with Canada and with 
peoples of other countries where they can be entered into with 
benefit to American agriculture, manufactures, mining or com- 
merce. 

We favor the maintenance of the Monroe Doctrine in its full 
integrity. 

We favor the reduction of the army and of army expenditure to 
a point historically demonstrated to be safe and sufficient. 

The Democracy would secure to the surviving soldiers and sailors 
and their dependents generous pensions, not by an arbitrary ex- 
ecutive order, but by legislation which a grateful people stand 
ready to enact. 

Our soldiers and sailors who defend with their lives the Consti- 
tution and the laws have a sacred interest in their just administra- 
tion. They must therefore share with us the humiliation with 
which we have witnessed the exaltation of court favorites, with- 
out distinguished service, over the scarred heroes of many bat- 
tles, of their aggrandizement by executive appropriation out of 
the treasuries of a prostrate people in violation of the act of Con- 
gress which fixed the compensation of allowances of the military 
officers. 

The Democratic party stands committed to the principles of 
Civil Service Reform, and we demand their honest, just and im- 
partial enforcement. We denounce the Republican party for its 
continued and sinister encroachments upon the spirit and opera- 
tion of Civil Service rules, whereby it has arbitrarily dispensed 
with examinations for office in the interests of favorites and em- 
ployed all manner of devices to overreach and set aside the prin- 
ciples upon which Civil Service was established. 

The race question has brought countless woes to this country. 
The calm wisdom of the American people should see to it that it 
brings no more. 

To revive the dead and hateful race and sectional animosities in 
any part of our common country means confusion, distraction of 
business and the reopening of wounds now happily healed. 

North and South, East and West have but recently stood to- 
gether in line of battle from the walls of Peking to the hills of 
Santiago, and as sharers of a common glory and a common destiny 
we should share fraternally the common burdens. 

We therefore deprecate and condemn the Bourbonlike, selfish 
and narrow spirit of the recent Republican Convention at Chicago, 
which sought to kindle anew the embers of racial and sectional 
strife, and we appeal from it to the sober common sense and spirit 
of the American people. 

The existing Republican Administration has been spasmodic, 



124 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

erratic, sensational, spectacular and arbitrary. It has made itself a 
satire upon the Congress, the courts and upon the settled practices 
and usages of national and international law. 

It summoned the Congress into hasty and futile extra session 
and virtually adjourned it, leaving behind its flight from Wash- 
ington uncalled calendars and unaccomplished tasks. 

It made war, which is the sole power of Congress, without its 
authority, thereby usurping one of its fundamental prerogatives. 

It violated a plain statute of the United States, as well as plain 
treaty obligations, international usages and constitutional law, and 
has done so under pretence of executing a great public policy which 
could have been more easily effected lawfully, constitutionally and 
with honor. 

It forced strained and unnatural constructions upon statutes, 
usurping judicial interpretation«^nd substituting Congressional 
enactment. 

It withdrew from Congress their customary duties of investiga- 
tion which have heretofore made the representatives of the people 
and the States the terror of evildoers. 

It conducted a secretive investigation of its own and boasted of 
a few sample convictions, while it threw a broad coverlet over the 
bureaus which had been their chosen field of operative abuses and 
kept in power the superior officers under whose administration the 
crimes had been committed. 

It ordered assaults upon some monopolies, but, paralyzed by its 
first victory, it flung out the flag of truce and cried out that it 
would not " run amuck," leaving its future purposes beclouded by 
its vacillations. 

Conducting the campaign upon this declaration of our principles 
and purposes, we invoke for our candidates the support, not only 
of our great and time-honored organization, but also the active 
assistance of all of our fellow citizens, who, disregarding past dif- 
ferences, desire the perpetuation of our constitutional government 
as framed and established by the fathers of the Republic. 

The nomination of candidates was now in order. The 
speeches presenting the merits of " favorite sons " and the sec- 
onding speeches numbered more than thirty, and the whole 
night was occupied in the preliminaries of the vote. When the 
roll was finally called the result was : — 

Alton B. Parker, of New York 658 

William R. Hearst, of New York 200 

Francis M. Cockrell, of Missouri 42 

Richard Olney, of Massachusetts 38 

Edward C. Wall, of Wisconsin 27 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 125 

George Gray, of Delaware 12 

John S. Williams, of Mississippi 5 

Robert E. Pattison, of Pennsylvania 4 

George B. McClellan, of New York 3 

Nelson A. Miles, of Massachusetts 3 

Charles A. Towne, of Minnesota 2 

Arthur P. Gorman, of Maryland 2 

Bird S. Coler, of New York 1 

The whole number of votes w^as exactly 1000, and 667 (two- 
thirds) were necessary for a choice. Before the result was de- 
clared 19 Hearst votes, and 2 for Senator Gorman were trans- 
ferred to Parker, giving him 689, and the nomination. The 
convention then, — at 5.50 a.m., on the morning of Saturday, 
having been in session ten hours, adjourned until the afternoon. 
Before that time an unprecedented incident had occurred, the 
particulars of which were known to only a few of the leaders. 
It was of such a nature that a hurried adjournment until the 
late afternoon was ordered. Upon reassembling the convention 
was not at first informed what had taken place, and the presenta- 
tion of candidates for Vice-President proceeded. When the 
roll had been called a delegate from Texas suggested that " we 
ought not to nominate a candidate for Vice-President at this 
time. . . . We want to know, before a candidate for Vice- 
President is nominated, who will be the nominee of this con- 
vention for President." No further explanation was given, but 
probably by this time most of the delegates knew the meaning 
of Mr. Culberson's surprising statement. A recess of an hour 
and a half was ordered, and the convention reassembled at 
8:30 P.M. 

What had occurred was that during the early part of the day 
one of the New York delegates had received from Judge 
Parker a telegram in the following terms : — 

I regard the gold standard as firmly and irrevocably established, 
and shall act accordingly if the action of the convention to-day 
shall be ratified by the people. As the platform is silent on the 
subject, my view should be made known to the convention, and if 
it is proved to be unsatisfactory to the majority, I request you to 
decline the nomination for me at once, so that another may be 
nominated before adjournment. 

Although there were cries of "Oh, no! " when the first dele- 
gate who referred to the incident said that the despatch had 
"spread consternation throughout this convention," the re- 



,126 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

mark was justified. Possibly it derived a part of its truth from 
the fact that a false version of the telegram was published in 
an evening paper — a version which made Judge Parker de- 
clare that he could not accept a nomination unless a plank 
recognizing the existence by law of the gold standard were in- 
serted in the platform. It was proposed to send to Judge Par- 
ker, in the name of the convention, the following reply: — 

The platform adopted by this convention is silent on the question 
of a monetary standard because it is not regai'ded by us as a possi- 
ble issue in this campaign, and only campaign issues were men- 
tioned in the platform, ^erefore, there is nothing in the views 
expressed by you in the telegram just received which would pre- 
clude a man entertaining them from accepting a nomination on 
said platform. 

Upon a motion to that effect a long and at times acrimonious 
debate ensued. Some of those who urged the sending of a re- 
ply characterized Judge Parker's action as "injudicious" and 
" unnecessary," but they maintained that the motive was a 
high sense of honor, and an unwillingness that his opinions 
should be misunderstood. They said that every one knew, in 
voting for Parker, that he was a " gold man " ; but this last 
statement was warmly disputed. Mr. Bryan strongly opposed 
the sending of the telegram. He maintained that if the con- 
vention was willing, by so doing, to recognize the gold stand- 
ard, it should do so openly and in a manly way, in the plat- 
form. When the debate closed the convention voted, 794 t6 
191, that the reply above printed should be sent. The majority 
would have been somewhat smaller, though still overwhelming, 
if the votes of many delegations had not been given under the 
unit rule. This fact was made clear by the announcement of 
the vote by the chairman of seven or eight delegations. 

The convention now proceeded to finish its business by 
nominating a candidate for Vice-President. The result of the 
first and only vote was as follows : — 

Whole number of votes 977 

Necessary for a choice (two thirds of the whole con- 
vention) ..... 667 

Henry G. Davis, of West Virginia 654 

James R. Williams, of Illinois 165 

George Turner, of Washington 100 

William A. Harris, of Kansas 58 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 127 

It was then voted to make the nomination unanimous, and 
after the appointment of the usual committees the Convention 
came to an end at 1.30 a.m. on Sunday, July 10. 

A meeting of colored men, \*^ho called themselves the Na- 
tional Liberty party, was held at St. Louis on July 7. No re- 
cord of its proceedings has been discovered, save that it nom- 
inated for President George E. Taylor, of Iowa, and adopted 
the following platform : — 

We, the delegates of the National Liberty party of the United 
States, in convention assembled, declare our unalterable faith in 
the essential doctrine of human liberty, the fatherhood of God and 
the brotherhood of man. 

Under no other doctrine can the people of this or any other 
country stand together in good friendship and perfect union. 
Equal liberty is the first concession that a republican form of gov- 
ernment concedes to its people, and universal brotherhood is the 
cementing tie which binds a people to respect the laws. 

It has always been so where caste existed and was recognized by 
law or by common consent, that the oppression of the m eaker by 
the stronger has attained and a degree of human slavery been real- 
ized. Such a condition of affairs must necessarily exist where uni- 
versal suffrage is not maintained and respected, and where one 
man considers that by nature he was born and by nature dies bet- 
ter than another. 

The application of the fundamental principles of the rights of 
men is always the paramount issue before a people, and when they 
are strictly adhered to there is no disturbing element to the peace, 
prosperity, or to the great industrial body politic of the country. 

We believe in the supremacy of the civil as against the military 
law, when and where the civil is respected. But when the civil lavv 
has been outraged and wrested from the hands of authority it 
should be understood that military law may be temporarily insti- 
tuted. 

Law and order should take the place of lynching and mob vio- 
lence, and polygamy should not survive, but polygamy is more tol- 
erable than lynching, and we regret that a great national party 
could overlook lynching, and yet denounce polygamy. 

Citizens of a democracy should be non-partisans, always casting 
their votes for the safety of their country and for their best intei*- 
ests, individually and collectively. 

The right of any American citizen to support any measure instead 
of party should not be questioned, and when men conform them- 
selves to party instead of principles they become party slaves. 
There were 2,500,000 such slaves among our colored population in 



128 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

1900, all voting strictly to party lines, regardless of their material 
■welfare. We are satisfied that they did not serve their best inter- 
est in that section of the country in which the greater number of 
them live by doing so. 

These being our thoughts and ideas of how the Government's 
affairs should be conducted, we most respectfully submit them to 
all liberty-loving and Christian-hearted people, that they may act 
upon them in a spirit of justice and equity, " with good will to all, 
malice toward none." 

We ask for universal suffrage, or qualification which does not 
discriminate against any reputable citizen on account of color or 
condition. 

We ask that the Federal Government enforce its guarantee to 
protect its citizens, and secure for them every right given under 
the Constitution of the United States, wherever and whenever it is 
necessary. 

We appeal to all forms of Catholic and Protestant religions to 
assist us to awaken the Christian consciences of all classes of the 
American people, private citizens and officers, to wipe out the 
greatest shame known to civilized nations of the world, whose very 
root seems to have planted in this, one of the most proud of all 
nations of its civilization — " lynch law," the pregnator of anarch- 
ism, the most dangerous system to revolutionize our Republic. 

We ask that the national laws be so remedied as to give any cit- 
izen, being next of kin, the right to demand an indemnity of the 
National Government for the taking of life or the injuring of any 
citizen other than by due process of law. And that where the pro- 
perty of a citizen is wilfully destroyed by a mob, the Federal Gov- 
ernment shall be held to make restitution to the injured parties. 

We demand an increase of the regular army, making six negro 
regiments instead of four, and an equal chance to colored soldiers 
to become line officers. 

We favor the adjustment of all grievances between the wage 
earner and the capitalist by equitable resources without injustice 
to either or by methods of coercion. 

We firmly protest against interference of the Government in the 
Orient until paramount political issues of the races, capital and 
labor are settled and settled right at home. 

We firmly believe that the ex-slaves, who served the country for 
246 years, filling the lap of the nation with wealth by their labor, 
should be pensioned from the overflowing treasury of the country 
to which they are and have been loyal, both on land and sea, as 
provided in the bill introduced in the Senate of the United States 
by Senator Hanna, of the State of Ohio. 

We ask that the general Government own and control all public 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 129 

carriers in the United States, so that the citizens of the United 
States could not be denied equal accommodations where they pay 
with the same lawful money provided by the Government as a cir- 
culating medium and as a legal tender for all obligations. 

The people of the District of Columbia, the capital of the nation, 
should be given the right to participate in the selection of Presi- 
dent and Vice-President of the United States, and should be al- 
lowed representation in the two branches of Congress, and the 
election of a Governor, Mayor, City Council, and such other offi- 
cers as are necessary for the proper government of the District of 
Columbia. We indorse the Gallagher resolution looking to the es- 
tablishment of self-government of the District of Columbia. 

The last convention of the canvass was that of the " Con- 
tinental " party, which was held at Chicago on August 31. Its 
avowed object was " to unite the disalfected of all parties." In 
personnel it was almost if not quite local in character ; for 
although it was reported that letters had been received from 
twenty-seven States asking that proxies be appointed for them, 
it is believed that all of the thirty-four persons who served as 
" delegates " were residents of Chicago, or of its immediate 
vicinity. The chairman was Dr. J. P. Lynch, of Illinois. The 
convention nominated for President Charles H. Howard, of 
Illinois, and for Vice-President George H. Shirley, of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. Both of those gentlemen declined and the 
National Committee substituted as candidates Austin H, Hol- 
comb, of Georgia, for President, and A. King, of Missouri, for 
Vice-President. It does not appear that an electoral ticket was 
proposed in any State. The platform adopted was as follows : 

The Continental party of the United States, in first national con- 
vention assembled, in the city of Chicago, August 31, 1904, an- 
nounces the following platform of principles : 

The objects and ends of the Continental party, as set forth in its 
charter, are : " To enlist the cooperation of legal voters through- 
out the United States in earnest and honorable efforts to repeal un- 
just laws in every branch of government, and, in their stead, to 
secure the enactment and enforcement of other laws better adapted 
to ' establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, promote the gen- 
eral welfare,' and secure the election or appointment to office of 
honest and capable men." 

The questions pertaining to money, the tariff, transportation, 
trusts and corporations, the race problem, the labor problem, are 
preeminently live issues, which can never be permanently settled 
until they are settled right. 



130 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

Without referring to our trade relations with nations of the 
Eastern Continent, we declare our adherence to the principles of 
reciprocity advocated by that eminent statesman, James G. Blaine, 
as applied to Canada and all American republics. To this end we 
favor such Congressional action as shall initiate a movement in- 
tended to bring about reciprocity to its fullest extent with the en- 
tire American Continent. In the language of Mr. Blaine : " There 
is room for but one commercial flag between Cape Horn and the 
North Pole." 

We believe that the money question is far from being settled, 
and that it involves not only the gold standard, but the far greater 
question, namely. Who shall issue and control the paper currency 
of the nation — the Government or the banks ? He who controls 
the money of a country controls the government of that country. 
We believe that the money trust is the mother of all other trusts ; 
that it is international in its scope ; that it has duplicate head- 
quarters — London and New York ; that its power exceeds, in many 
particulars, the power of the Government itself ; that it controls 
legislation by controlling the political party in power ; that through 
its agents it secured the nomination of the Presidential candidates 
of both the Republican and Democratic parties and dictated the 
main planks of their national platforms. We believe that it is this 
subserviency of the two leading political parties of this country to 
the money trust that is fast placing the wealth of the country into 
the hands of a few individuals, reducing to penury and want mil- 
lions of the laboring and middle classes and establishing in this 
land of former freedom a plutocracy which threatens to be more 
arbitrary in its demands than any monarchy of the Old World. 
" To coin money and regulate the value thereof " is a function of 
the National Government, which the Constitution has denied to the 
States, but which the Republican party has delegated, in part, to 
corporations. 

As a check to the encroachments of the money power we advo- 
cate the following demands : — 

The act authorizing national banks to issue notes of credit should 
be repealed. All money of every description should be issued by the 
general Government, and be equal in value, dollar for dollar. 

Postal banks for deposit and check should be established — one 
in every city, county-town and village, the surplus funds thus ac- 
cruing to be loaned to the people at interest not exceeding 3 per 
cent per annum. 

The one hundred and twelve million dollars Government funds 
deposited in banks should be withdrawn and loaned to the several 
States on deposit of State bonds. 

Constantly recurring accidents on all lines of railroad, causing 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 131 

great loss of life and the crippling and mangling of hundreds of 
passengers, demand the most searching investigation and prompt 
and efficient legal remedies whereby railroads shall be operated for 
the safety and convenience of the public, rather than for the pur- 
pose of declaring the usual dividend on watered stock. During the 
year 1901 the railroads of England, which are owned and operated 
by the Government, transported an immense number of passengers 
without a single fatality. In this country a person virtually takes 
his life in his hand when he steps aboard a train of cars. We be- 
lieve that the fatalities of railroad travel in the United States can 
be traced directly to the employment of cheap and careless em- 
ployes, the overworking of engineers and conductors, and the 
neglect to take proper precautions against accidents, with a view 
to " cut down operating expenses," and thus enable railroad officials 
to declare the usual dividends to stockholders. As a remedy for 
such abuses we demand the prosecution for manslaughter of 
the principal officers of a railroad company on whose line the death 
of a passenger shall be traced directly to the carelessness or in- 
competency of their employes, or to their incapacity caused by long 
hours of continuous labor. 

To give work to the unemployed, furnish cheaper and more equit- 
able rates of transportation, insure the safety and convenience of 
the travelling public, and test the practicability of government 
ownership of railroads, the United States Government should at 
once proceed to construct, equip and operate one or more lines of 
four-track railway, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, 
and one or more similar lines from the Gulf of Mexico to points 
near our northern boundary. 

We believe in the right of labor to organize for the benefit and 
protection of those who toil. Capital is organized, and has no right 
to deny labor the privilege which it claims for itself. Intelligent 
organization of labor is demanded to preserve the rights of the 
laborer. It raises the standard of workmanship and promotes the 
efficiency, intelligence, independence and character of the wage 
earner. We believe with Abraham Lincoln that labor is prior to capi- 
tal and is not its slave, but its companion, and we plead for that broad 
spirit of tolerance and justice which will promote industrial peace 
through the observance of just principles of arbitration. We favor 
the enactment of legislation looking to the improvement in con- 
ditions for wage earners, the abolition of child labor, the suppres- 
sion of sweat-shops and of convict labor in competition with free 
labor, and the exclusion from American shores of foreign paujier 
labor and Asiatic labor of every nationality. We favor the shorter 
workday, and declare that eight hours shall constitute the maxi- 
mum workday in all manufacturing establishments, workshops, 



132 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

mines and all other industrial establishments, and that where great 
skill and responsibility are required of an employe, as in the case 
of railroad engineers, train despatchers, steamboat employes, etc., 
no person should be continuously employed more than six hours 
of the twenty-four. 

All railroad and other corporations doing business in two or 
more States should be chartered by Congress, and then only after a 
close scrutiny of their capitalization, a strict investigation reveal- 
ing their intentions, and a most guarded restriction of their powers 
and operations. The creating of " corners " and the establishing 
of exorbitant prices for products necessary to human existence 
should be made a criminal offence against the officers, directors 
and stockholders of a corporation so offending, subjecting them to 
severest penalties. A man is no less a robber because he is able to 
hold up his victim by due process of law. 

The Philippines, the same as Cuba, should be guaranteed ulti- 
mate independence and a stable government under the protection 
of the United States. 

The Congressional district, instead of the State, should be 
made the unit in the Electoral College, apportioning to each dis- 
trict one Presidential elector, to be chosen by the voters of that 
district. 

We demand such legislation as will place the burdens of gov- 
ernment upon that class of people who have been most favored by 
special acts of government, and to this end we favor a graduated 
property tax, exempting from its provisions property of the indi- 
vidual to the amount of $10,000 or less. We also demand that a 10 
per cent tax be levied annually upon all unoccupied and unim- 
proved land. 

We demand the enactment by the several States of a primary 
election law, by which all candidates for public office shall be se- 
lected by direct vote of the people, without the aid of a delegate 
convention. We denounce government by the gavel in party con- 
veiitions, and demand the eliminatioii of the party " boss " from 
party politics, by whatever method it can be brought about. 

The election laws of the several States should be changed, by 
constitutional amendment when necessary, so as to provide for 
direct legislation by the method known as the initiative and re- 
ferendum. 

Each State should possess the sole right to determine by legis- 
lation the qualifications required of voters within its jurisdiction, 
irrespective of race, color or sex. 

The Constitution of the United States should be revised and 
amended in accordance with the method provided in Article V., 
that our fundamental law may answer the demands of a century 
of civilization and progress. 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 133 

Believing our demands to be practicable and just, we appeal to 
all who believe in majority rule, to all who are weary of Standard 
Oil government, to all who are opposed to gavel government in 
party politics, and to all others who desire the welfare of all the 
people, to unite with us in advocating the principles herein enunci- 
ated until they shall be enacted into laws for the government of 
this Republic — a Republic founded by Washington and Jefferson 
and the Continental Congress, and first defended and protected 
by the Continental Army of the United States. 

The canvass that ensued was spiritless almost beyond pre- 
cedent ; and although there were the usual optimistic claims on 
the part of the Democrats, and the customary real or simu- 
lated fears on the part of the Republicans, the result was at 
no time doubtful. The policy of the Democrats turned out to 
be a mistake at every point. Mr. Bryan, who was indisputably 
the leader of the faction which was for the moment thrust into 
the background, " supported the ticket," but he did so in such 
a half-hearted manner that his support was no help to the party. 
Immediately after the close of the convention he expressed his 
real opinion by saying that little could be hoped from a Demo- 
cratic victory so long as the party was " under the control of 
the Wall-Street element." Judge Parker's nomination, he re- 
marked, "virtually nullifies the anti-trust plank" of the plat- 
form; and the labor plank was " straddling and meaningless." 
He found 'enough in Judge Parker to "justify me in giving 
him my vote but," — and so forth. He announced his purpose, 
as soon as the election should be over " to marshal the friends 
of popular government within the Democratic party to the sup- 
port of a radical and progressive policy." 

Such language as that could not inspire the earnest men who 
still looked to him as their " peerless leader " to exert them- 
selves greatly in favor of the ticket. They did not. Many of 
them came out openly in support of Mr. Roosevelt Avhom, by 
instinct, they felt to be more favorable to " a radical and pro- 
gressive policy " than was Judge Parker. In still larger num- 
bers they outwardly preserved their regularity as party men by 
maintaining silence; but they were determined to vote against 
Parker, and when the day of election came they did so. The 
great increase of the Socialist and independent Populist vote in 
November is to be explained, not by the growth of these par- 
ties but by the revolt of radicals against the new policy of the 
Democratic party. The magnitude of that revolt is made still 



134 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

more impressive when we take account of the attitude of the 
Gold Democrats who returned to their allegiance on the elimina- 
tion of Mr. Bryanand the silver agitation, and of the smaller but 
not altogether insignificant number of Republicans who were 
estranged from Mr. Roosevelt by reason of his progressive 
radicalism. 

One of the delegates to the Democratic convention, a senator 
of the United States, said in reference to the platform, " we 
have adopted a document but not a policy." Therein lay the 
second mistake. The tariff, in 1892; silver at 16 to 1, in 1896 ; 
imperialism, in 1900, had been " paramount "' issues. In 1904' 
there was no real issue. There were the remnants of old con- 
troversies, on every one of which the Democrats had been de- 
feated, but on all of them the party was timid. It reasserted 
its position on some of them in cautious language, hoping to 
win back erring brethren, but it said nothing to rally those who 
had fought its recent battles, nothing that attracted recruits 
from the opposing line. The orators had nothing to talk about 
except the sins of the Republican party, and the sins they cited 
did not seem enormous to those who had previously supported 
the party. Silver, as an issue, was dead. Mr. Williams, of Mis- 
sissippi, in the final debate in the Democratic convention, on 
the reply to be given to Judge Parker's telegram, challenged 
any member of the body to express the opinion that silver 
would be an issue in the campaign, and no one responded. " Im- 
perialism," too, did not alarm the people ; and the country was 
still so prosperous under — which does not necessarily mean 
because of — the Dingley tariff, that it was not a favorable 
issue to arouse votes against the administration. So the speak- 
ing campaign was listless — of course on both sides — for aside 
from an attack on the financial extravagance alleged against 
the Republicans, there was little to defend. 

It must be said also that the Democrats were unfortunate in 
their candidates. It was almost universally admitted that it was 
a mistake to nominate for the vice-presidency a man in his 
eighty-second year. Otherwise there was no objection urged, or 
possible, against Mr. Davis. Nor was there any objection pos- 
sible against Judge Parker on the ground of his personal honor 
and integrity, or of his sincerity, or of his patriotism. But he 
was unknown, and his long-time judicial aloofness had made 
him incapable, by disuse of the faculty, of making himself 
known and popular. At first he determined not to make any 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 135 

speeches except to those who might call upon him at his open 
porch in Esopus. But when the canvass dragged his advisers 
counselled him to abandon that determination. He did accord-' 
ingly hold meetings and address the voters in New York and 
the near-by States, but again his lack of practice in the art of 
popular oratory was a disadvantage. He could not arouse en- 
thusiasm, and his excursions into the field of national finance, 
and his treatment of the trust question, gave the journals and 
the orators on the other side opportunities to question his 
knowledge of matters with which, should he be elected, he 
would have to deal. 

All these things worked in favor of the Republicans. They 
profited more from the weakness of the opposition than from 
their own merit. Originally, when slavery was the great and 
almost the only issue, they were a radical party, — radical 
also on the minor issues, such as they were. They were radi- 
cal in reconstruction times, radical protectionists then and 
later. But when their policies were triumphant they gradually 
became conservative. Although never unanimous, they were 
on the whole cons'ervative on the entire series of issues affect- 
ing the public debt and the currency — payment of the five- 
twenty bonds, the national banks, inflation of the greenback 
currency, and silver coinage. They were conservative in re- 
spect of their own protective tariff policy. They were opposed 
to every item of the Populist programme. Now they were ex- 
posed to a new influence. The President, their President, their 
candidate in the approaching election, was frankly radical. He 
was decidedly favorable to some of the most progressive meas- 
ures of the radical opposition, against which the party had 
previously set its face. The situation was peculiar. One party 
overwhelmingly controlled by radicals, when they chose to ex- 
ercise their power; the other quite as strongly conservative 
by preference, but willingly placing itself under the leadership 
of a frank radical, who made no secret of his intention to lead 
the party to adopt radicalism. In a certain sense both candi- 
dates were misplaced. There may come a time when men — all 
.men — will emancipate themselves from party ties whenever 
their party goes whither they do not wish to follow. But that 
time had not come in 1904. What happened is what might 
have been expected to happen. It is a peculiarity of the con- 
servative that he adheres to party more closely than does the 
radical. Witness, for examples, the sudden growth of the 



136 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDEXCY 

Greenback party, and of the Populist party. Witness the fact 
that although there were numerous secessions from the Demo- 
cratic party in 1896 on the silver question, a vast majority of 
the conservative element which it still contained — Judge 
Parker among the rest — voted for Mr. Bryan, though they 
were absolutely opposed to the free coinage of silver, which 
was the one question at issue. Witness now, that the con- 
servative element, at the time overwhelmingly predominant in 
the Republican party, supported the radical candidate in pre- 
ference to the conservative, and thus acquiesced in the plan 
of the leader to transform the body into a radical party. 

Herein lies the explanation both of the tameness of the 
canvass and of the result. Neither party as a whole had a posi- 
tive programme. One of the candidates was extraordinarily 
popular, and so strong a man in personality, so persuasive and 
sincere in his acts and motives, that resistance to his leader- 
ship was fvitile. He held his former supporters and attracted 
throngs of former opponents. The other candidate was — 
through no fault of his own — not popular because not known, 
and incapacitated by lack of experience to become a leader. He 
could not hold those who had gloried in the leadership of 
Bryan ; he could not detach even the conservative Republicans 
from Roosevelt. The consequence was a "landslide." 

The election of electors took place on November 8. The 
result is shown on page 137. 

The total popular vote was 13,523,108, — a decrease of 
more than 460,000 from the election of 1900, and nearly 
430,000 less than that cast eight years before, in 1896. The 
Republican vote was almost 400,000 greater in 1904 than in 
1900 : the Democratic vote decreased more than a million and 
a quarter; the combined votes for the minor candidates in- 
creased more than 400,000. These figures indicate in a gen- 
eral way the more important movements of the voters. W^e 
must make allowance for a normal increase in the number of 
men qualified to vote. In all probability not less than a million 
and a half ©f those who classed themselves as Democrats failed to 
support the ticket at the polls. Not far from a half of that num- 
ber voted either for Mr. Roosevelt or for one of the minor 
candidates. The other half abstained from voting. It is inter- 
esting to analyze the vote geographically, as by that process 
we can discover where the defection was most pronounced. In 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION 



137 



Statis 



Alabama . . 
Arkansas . . 
California . . 
Colorado . . 
Connecticut . 
Delaware . . 
Florida . . 
Georgia . . 
Idaho . . , 
Illinois . , . 
Indiana . . 
Iowa . . . 
Kansas . . . 
Kentucky . . 
Louisiana . . 
Maine . . . 
Maryland . . 
Massachusetts 
Michigan . . 
Minnesota 
Mississippi . 
Missouri . . 
Montana . . 
Nebraska . . 
Nevada . . 
New Hampshire 
New Jersey . 
New York 
North Carolina 
North Dakota 
Ohio. . . . 
Oregon . . 
Pennsylvania. 
Rhode Island 
South Carolina 
South Dakota 
Tennessee 
Texas . . . 
Utah . . . 
Vermont . . 
Virginia . . 
Washington . 
West Virginia 
Wisconsin . 
Wyoming . . 

Total . . 



POPCLAB VOTK 






22472 

46860 
205226 
134687 
111089 

23712 
8314 

24003 

47783 
632645 
368289 
307907 
212955 
205277 
5205 

64438 
109497 
2578'i2 
364957 
216661 
3187 
321449 

34932 

138558 

6864 

64163 
245164 
859533 

82442 

52595 
600095 

60455 
840949 

41605 
2554 

72083 
105369 

51242 

62446 

40459 

47880 
101540 

132628 
280315 

20489 

7628785 



SI 



79857 

64434 

89404 

100105 

72909 

19359 

27040 

83472 

18480 

327606 

274335 

149141 

86174 

217170 

47708 

27649 

109446 

165772 

135392 

55187 

63374 

296312 

21773 

52921 

3982 

34074 

164516 

683981 

124121 

14273 

344674 

17521 

337998 

24839 

52563 

21969 

1316.53 

167200 

33413 

9777 

80650 

28098 

100881 

124205 

8930 

5084442 



612 
993 

7380 

3438 

1506 

607 

5 

685 

1013 

34770 

23496 

11601 

7306 

6609 

1510 
3034 
4286 
13441 
6253 

7191 

335 

6323 

750 

6845 

20787 

361 

1140 

19339 

3806 

33717 

768 

2965 
1891 
3995 

792 
1382 
3329 
4600 
9672 

217 

258950 



"o'-S 



863 

1816 

29535 

4304 

4543 

146 

2337 

197 

4949 

69225 

12013 

14847 

15869 

3602 

995 

2103 

2247 

13604 

9042 

11692 

392 

13009 

6676 

7412 

925 

1090 

9587 

36883 

124 

2117 

36260 

7619 

21863 

956 

22 

3138 

1354 

2791 

5767 

859 

218 

10023 

1572 

28240 

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402895 



335 
675 



4698 
1698 



596 



2365 
1036 
974 

1674 
208 



2680 
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2633 
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421 



56 
1592 



B.2 

"3 



6051 
2318 

824 

495 

61 

1605 

22635 

353 

6725 

2444 

2207 

62.53 

2511 



1290 
1159 
2103 
1424 
4226 
1520 
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344 

83 

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165 
1392 

753 



1 

1240 
2506 
8062 



359 
669 
339 
530 



114546 



Electobal 
Vote 



1 
16 
14 
11 

18 
3 
8 
3 
4 
12 
39 

4 
23 

4 
34 

4 



3 

4 

6 
7 

13 
3 

336 140 



138 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

round numbers the vote of the New England States, for the 
leading candidates, at the two elections was as follows : — 

1900 1904 

Republican 539,000 569,600 

Democratic 336,000 335,000 

In these States, naturally conservative, the Democrats held 
their own fairly well, and the total vote showed an increase 
of between three and four per cent, all of which went to the 
Republicans. 

In the States of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, 
the vote stood thus ; — 

1900 1904 

Republican 1,756,400 1,945,600 

Democratic 1,267,400 1,184,000 

Here again the change was slight — an increase of about 
100,000 in the total vote, a little more than three per cent ; a 
loss of nearly 100,000 by the Democrats, a gain of nearly 
200,000 by the Republicans, both of which changes were 
largely in Pennsylvania. But as we go westward the tendency 
becomes more marked. In Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michi- 
gan, the totals were 

1900 1904 

Republican 1,794,200 1,963,900 

Democratic 1,499,200 1,080,800 

A loss of 420,000 by the Democrats, offset by a gain of 
170,000 by the Republicans, and a decided decrease in the 
total popular vote. The Democratic loss in the four States 
was 28 per cent. The group of Western States consisting of 
Wisconsin, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Iowa, Kan- 
sas and Nebraska, made this showing : — 

1900 1904 

Republican 1,162,200 1,278,600 

Democratic ; 817,500 501,300 

In these States the total vote decreased 220,000, or eleven 
per cent. The Republicans increased their vote 116,000; the 
Democrats lost more than 300,000, — a decline of 38 per cent. 
The other States of the Northwest and the Pacific Coast, 
nine in number, where Mr. Bryan had been strongest voted 
thus : — 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 139 

1900 1904 

Republican 479,800 674,400 

Democratic 454,000 321,500 

The total vote increased about six per cent, but whereas the 
Republicans gained almost 200,000 the Democrats lost 130,000, 
the decrease being almost 30 per cent. Finally we have the 
sixteen Southern States from Delaware to Texas, in some of 
which the contest was close, but in others there was no contest. 
Their totals were : — 

1900 1904 

Republican 1,488,500 1,244,400 

Democratic 1,983,900 1,656,600 

Here the total vote decreased more than 570,000 — a num- 
ber greater by 110,000 than the decrease in the country as a 
whole — and nearly 17 per cent. The Republicans lost 
244,000 ; the Democrats 327,000. But the figures as to that 
part of the country are of little significance, since the voters 
of that region are largely unaff'ected by events and movements 
that have a powerful influence elsewhere. 

Upon a general survey we see that, as we should expect, the 
radicalism which is more prevalent and more intense as one 
proceeds westward, manifested itself in a more extensive re- 
volt against the conservative attitude of the Democratic party 
in this canvass, and in increased support of Mr. Roosevelt 
who was regarded as more inclined to radicalism than Judge 
Parker. 

The leading politicians of both parties seem to have been 
astounded by the magnitude and thoroughness of the Repub- 
lican victory. Mr. Parker issued a statement in which he 
made it clear that he had anticipated defeat, but he declared 
that he did not regret having undertaken the contest against 
overwhelming odds. Mr. Roosevelt, late in the evening of 
election day, when the result of the voting was sufficiently 
known, sent out to the press of the country the following 
statement, which was destined in after years to be the subject 
of much discussion : — 

I am deeply sensitive of the honor done me by the American 
people in thus expressing their confidence in what I have done 
and have tried to do. I appreciate to the full the solemn responsi- 
bility that confidence imposes upon me, and I shall do all that in 
my power lies not to forfeit it. On the 4th of March next I 



140 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

shall have served three and a half years, and that three and a half 
years constitutes my first term. The wise custom which limits the 
President to two terms regards the substance and not the form, 
and under no circumstances will I be a candidate for or accept 
another nomination. 

Although, on numerous occasions afterward, the hopes of 
his enthusiastic partisans and the fears of opponents in his own 
party pictured him as being forced to depart from the resolu- 
tion thus expressed, or induced by his strong desire to carry 
out his measures to reconsider that resolution voluntarily, he 
never gave the least countenance to any suggestion of that 
nature. Even so early as May, 1905, when an Omaha news- 
paper urged that if Congress refused to pass such a railroad 
law as he proposed he would be compelled to accept a nomina- 
tion in 1908, he sent to that paper a statement in which he said : 
*' You are authorized to state that I will not again be a can- 
didate for the office of President of the United States. There 
are no strings to this statement. I mean it." 

The counting of the electoral votes proceeded without any 
incident. The inauguration was an occasion of perhaps un- 
equalled brilliancy in the history of such ceremonies. It was 
estimated that there were more than two hundred thousand 
visitors in Washington on the 4th of March. The President 
had for an escort his " Rough Riders " of the campaign in 
Cuba, and there were also in the procession a party of Filip- 
ino scouts, a native battalion from Porto Rico, Indian chiefs, 
and other picturesque groups. The oath of office was admin- 
istered by Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller, and the inaugural 
address was delivered in the presence of an immense throng of 
people. 



Ill 

THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 

Perspective is necessary for the final and authoritative 
writing of history. It is indispensable in the case of such a 
period as the second administration of Theodore Roosevelt. It 
will be many years yet before a sound judgment can be pro- 
nounced upon the events of those four years, and upon their 
effect. It may be inaccurate even to use the word events, for 
although many measures were adopted, the period, in so far as 
it differed widely from the years that preceded it, was one of 
agitation rather than of accomplishment. The agitator was the 
President himself, who differed in a marked degree, in tem- 
perament, in method, in activity, from any of his predecessors. 
During his first term he observed, as loyally as it was possible 
for one constituted as he was, the pledge he gave, when as- 
suming the office upon the death of President McKinley, to 
maintain the policy which that death had interrupted. Yet he 
gave, even then, indications which — as was noted in the last 
chapter — gave disquiet to some of the most prominent and 
therefore most influential members of the Republican party. 
That party, as he found it, was conservative, and the men who 
were distrustful of Mr. Roosevelt were conservative. Notwith- 
standing their apprehensions, they did not openly oppose his 
nomination for a second term, and after the nomination they 
worked earnestly and successfully for his election. 

That election, which he had a right to interpret as a man- 
date from the people to adopt and urge his own policies, left 
Mr. Roosevelt free to depart as widely as he might see fit from 
the standards and methods which he had inherited, and to in- 
troduce new issues into national politics, or to modify the views 
and treatment of issues already brought before the people, but 
not yet " paramount." It could cause no strain upon his own 
conscience, and it could not be a just ground of complaint, on 
the part of those who had, however Avillingly or unwillingly, 
voted for him, that his policy should be radical. He had re- 
vealed the fact that he was not a conservative like the con- 



142 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

servatives who composed a majority of Congress, but was, with 
reference to the new issues at least, a radical. In spite of that 
revelation he had been elected by an immense majority, — the 
greatest majority ever given to a President. Hence he did not 
betray his party, nor did he practise any deception upon the 
people. But he did partially transform his party, and intro- 
duced divisions the consequences of which it must be left to the 
future historian to study and analyze. 

The chief difficulty which is experienced by one who under- 
takes to recount the occurrences and note the changes which 
he has observed as current events — let us confine the state- 
ment to the four years from 1905 to 1909 — is that of conceal- 
ing a bias on one side or the other — for or against radicalism. 
But it is possible to present the facts impartially and to re- 
press partisanship to its narrowest limits. If the facts are pre- 
sented truly, readers will interpret them for themselves. 

The situation was extraordinary. Mr. Roosevelt at the time 
of the election, and probably ever since, possessed a personal, 
as distinguished from a political, popularity greater than that 
of any other President, unless General Jackson was an excep- 
tion. Nor was his political popularity much if any less than 
that of any one of his predecessors who was twice elected. 
There was more opposition Avithin the Republican party to the 
reelection of Lincoln in 1864, and to that of Grant in 1872, 
than to that of Roosevelt in 1904 ; and neither Lincoln nor 
Grant received a tithe of the secret support, or of the number 
of silent votes from Democrats that Roosevelt received. More- 
over, there was never a whisper or a suspicion on the part of 
any one attached to any party that the President was insincere, 
or that he was animated by any but the best and most worthy 
motives to do that which he conceived to be for the welfare of 
the country and the triumph of righteousness. Such suspicions 
arose only at a later period with which we have here nothing 
to do. 

His opponents might and did think that he was at times 
arbitrary in his action, that he was impulsive, that he made 
mistakes in his earnest haste to do right, and that he was too 
sure that his own way was right and that any other way, or 
any opposition to his way, must be wrong. But those were 
apparently the opinions of a minority only, and that minority 
was composed chiefly of men in public life, certainly of men 
who took more than an average interest in public affairs. The 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 143 

people, as distinguished from these, trusted liim, believed in 
him, were glad to follow enthusiastically where he might lead 
them. Tliis is as much as to say that there was no effective 
opposition. Not on the part of the Democrats, who said in a 
spirit which was not altogether a mock complaint that he had 
stolen their platform ; not on the part of the Republicans, a 
large number of whom — were they a majority of the whole 
party ? — applauded, while the rest were deterred, by their 
unwillingness to divide the party as well as by the hopeless- 
ness of the undertaking, from directly and openly opposing 
him. It is certain that tl)e secret opposition to the President's 
social and economic policies was more rife in Congress than it 
was in the country at large, possibly more so than in any part 
of the country. The course adopted in the Senate and House 
of Representatives was to listen to the President's recommend- 
ations, express an academic approval of the measures he urged, 
and enact into law as few of them as possible. But his policies 
remained, and the new issues survived to be dealt with as they 
might be by the next administration. 

At no period in the national history were the matters which 
engrossed the attention of Congress and of the people more 
numerous or more various than in the four years we are now 
to consider. It was all owing to the prodigious activity of the 
President's mind and to his extraordinary energy. He was un- 
able to concentrate that energy on one object at a time. He 
always had a long programme of reforms, and turned swiftly 
from one to another, representing each in turn to be of the 
utmost importance. In mentioning the leading events of the 
time it becomes necessary to classify them and largely to disre- 
gard chronological order. Many of the events and of the pro- 
blems discussed, but not solved at the time, had no influence, 
or at the most but a slight influence, upon the ensuing election, 
which is our chief theme. Nevertheless they were so involved 
with other events and agitations which did play a part in the 
election of 1908 that they cannot be overlooked. 

One State was admitted to the Union during Mr. Roosevelt's 
second administration. Oklahoma had almost four hundred 
thousand inhabitants in 1900, and was even then entitled to 
admission with two representatives. It would lead us too far 
astray to inquire why it was not admitted, but undoubtedly 
one of the reasons was that many men insisted that the claims 
of Arizona and of New Mexico should be considered at the 



144 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

same time. At all events, when the question came up for de- 
cision there was a general disposition to link together the for- 
tunes of the three proposed new States. For it was assumed at 
the outset that the Indian Territory would be incorporated 
with Oklahoma. Indeed, a movement to make that Territory 
an independent State met with little favor in the Territory it- 
self, when the matter was submitted to a *' referendum." The 
situation was this : there was no open and avowed opposition 
to the admission of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory as one 
State, though the apprehension of a loss of political power by 
the addition of two Democrats to the Senate made many Re- 
publicans lukewarm, and possibly explains their willingness to 
complicate the case with those of Arizona and New Mexico. 
Neither of those Territories had sufficient population in 1900 
to entitle it to one representative, but New Mexico had un- 
doubtedly increased enough by 1905 to contain the necessary 
quota of population. But there were strong objections to erect- 
ing into States communities so sparsely settled, objections which 
gained strength from a consideration of the Mexican origin of 
many of the inhabitants. It was therefore proposed to make 
one State of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory, and one of 
New Mexico and Arizona. The original position of the Repub- 
licans, most of them, was — this or nothing. The Democrats 
were strongly in favor of admitting New Mexico and Arizona 
as separate States. The proposition to unite them encountered 
great popular opposition in Arizona. Ultimately it was proposed 
to admit them as one State in case — the question to be sub- 
mitted to popular vote — the people of both Territories should 
agree to the Union. Otherwise they must wait. 

The subject occupied a large part of the time of Congress 
during the session of 1905-06. The bill was passed by the 
House of Representatives in the form just noted. The Senate 
amended it by striking out all reference to Arizona and New 
Mexico, and in the end an agreement was reached upon that 
disposition of the matter. On the 16th of June, 1906, the Pre- 
sident signed the act admitting Oklahoma. The new State met 
the hopes of the Democrats and the fears of the Republicans by 
sending to Washington two Democratic senators and four Dem- 
ocratic members of the House of the five to which it was entitled. 

The government had upon its hands during this administra- 
tion an unusually large number of matters in its relation with 
foreign governments. Venezuela continued to be a thorn in its 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 145 

side. The government of Castro refused to submit to an impar- 
tial tribunal any of the questions on which it took issue with 
the United States, maintaining that they were all strictly within 
the jurisdiction of Venezuelan courts, which, on the theory of 
the complete sovereignty of the republic, would have been an 
incontrovertible position were it not for the fact that the courts 
were under the complete control of the dictator. President 
Roosevelt sent a commissioner to Bogota to investigate, but no 
definite action was taken to enforce American demands. 

Santo Domingo came once more into the field of American 
diplomacy. That republic had for many years been cursed by 
revolutions, the aim of most if not all the insurgents having 
been to obtain possession of the custom houses and of the pub- 
lic funds. A heavy foreign debt had been incurred, which no 
dictator pretended to recognize to the extent of paying the 
interest, to say nothing of the principal. There was no good 
answer to foreign governments which might ask how the United 
States justified a refusal either to permit them to collect the 
debts due to their subjects, or itself to take steps to compel 
Santo Domingo to meet its obligations. A plan was agreed 
upon involving (1) an amicable scaling-down of the foreign 
debt to an amount which the republic might be able to meet ; 
(2) placing the collection of customs in the hands of a selected 
American officer ; and (3) a division of the funds collected be- 
tween the government of Santo Domingo and the foreign cred- 
itors. The President undertook to carry out the arrangement 
without submitting it to ratification by the Senate, which was 
beyond question entitled to a voice in the matter, not only of 
becoming an agent for collecting and distributing the funds of 
a foreign government, but of the stipulation contained in the 
original " protocol " that the United States would maintain 
the integrity of the republic and the stability of the government. 
Owing to the storm of protest against the independent action of 
the President, a formal treaty was drawn and was submitted to 
the Senate in February, 1905. In a special message, on March 
6, the President strongly urged the ratification of the treaty, 
but the Senate adjourned without acting upon it. In Feb- 
ruary, 1907, the Senate ratified a treaty on the subject by which 
the arrangement as to the collection and distribution of Dom- 
inican revenue became effective ; but the treaty contained no 
engagement on the part of the United States to become respons- 
ible for Dominican sovereignty. 



146 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDEXCY 

In the summer of 1906 the United States was obliged to 
perform a duty which rested upon it as a result of the war 
with Spain, The condition of Cuba was comparatively peace- 
ful during the first term of President Palma. But as the time 
drew near for the election of his successor, there were dis- 
turbances. His political opponents accused the government of 
offences against the political liberty of the citizens. They 
charged it with suppressing opposition and with measures that 
would make a free election impossible. It is certain that the whole 
influence of the Cuban administration was exerted to compass 
the reelection of Senor Palma. He was elected and an insur- 
rection took place. At first the Cuban government professed 
itself able to deal with the insurgents, but the evil grew and 
became unmanageable. The situation was already serious in 
August. On September 13 United States marines were landed 
on Cuban soil as a precautionary measure, and on the next day 
President Roosevelt issued a warning to Cubans, urging peace, 
and assuring them that unless they should maintain order the 
United States would intervene. The warning was not heeded. 
On the 25th President Palma found it no longer possible to 
withstand the insurrection and resigned his office. Thereupon 
the United States took control of the government and installed 
a governor-general at Havana. The courts and the civil offices 
were still administered by Cubans, and Cuban laws were in 
force. The people were assured that when there should be a 
reasonable prospect that they could be trusted to govern them- 
selves peaceably the government would be restored to them. 
There were many persons in both countries who believed that in 
the end Cuba would be absorbed in the United States, and un- 
doubtedly many persons wished that result. But the promise 
was sincere and the engagement to restore the government to 
the Cubans was loyally carried out. 

A Pan-American conference was held at Rio de Janeiro, 
beginning on July 23, 1906. So far as the United States was 
concerned, the meeting was chiefly notable from the fact that 
it was attended by Mr. Root, the Secretary of State. Mr. Root 
was the object of extraordinary attention and hospitality. He 
made many speeches at the conference, or in connection with 
it, and won the hearts of the South American people by his 
pacific and tactful utterances. Before his return he made a tour 
of several of the South American countries and was every- 
where received with great enthusiasm. The labors of the con- 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 147 

ference were not fruitful in large consequences. No single con- 
ference can modify national character or dissipate such national 
jealousies as exist between the Latin-Anierican republics. J3ut 
every such meeting serves to improve their mutual relations to 
a certain extent. 

The Russo-Japanese War which began when, on February 
8, 1904, Admiral Togo engaged the Russian fleet at Port Ar- 
thur, was waged with fury for sixteen months. At the end of 
that time President Roosevelt took a step which, although 
Avithout precedent in history, won for him great credit and last- 
ing fame. He undertook, and succeeded in the undertaking, to 
bring about a cessation of hostilities and a conference between 
the belligerent powers. He consulted with the representatives 
in Washington of the Russian and Japanese governments and 
found that neither would object to a suggestion from him that 
they bring the war to a speedy conclusion. The American am- 
bassador at St. Petersburg had an audience with the Tsar, and 
called his attention to that clause of the Hague Convention 
which provides that an intermediatory advance shall never be 
considered as an unfriendly act by disputing powers. The Tsar 
having consented to receive a communication from the Pres- 
ident, Mr. Roosevelt, on June 8, addressed identical notes to 
St. Petersburg and Tokio. 

He expressed the opinion that the time had come when " in 
the interest of all mankind he must endeavor to see if it is not 
possible to bring to an end the terrible and lamentable conflict 
now being waged." The United States was friendly to both 
countries, and hoped for the welfare of each. He urged them 
to open direct negotiations with each other, "without any inter- 
mediary," and offered to do anything that the two powers 
might wish him to do, in arranging the preliminaries as to the 
time and place of the meeting. The proposition was accepted, 
plenipotentiaries were appointed by each government, and the 
meeting was held at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where, on 
September 5, a treaty of peace was signed. 

An agitation against the Japanese residing in San Francisco 
broke out in 1906. It was similar in motive to the long-stand- 
ing hostility of the labor element in the same city toward the 
Chinese, but took a different method of expression. It was 
aimed against the Japanese children and youth who had been 
allowed to attend the public schools with pupils of native and 
other foreign parentage. The school authorities adopted a reg- 



148 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

ulation forbidding the admission of Japanese to the schools. 
This was justly regarded as a grievance by the Japanese popu- 
lation of the city, and also by the government of Japan, as 
being a violation of the treaty obligations of the United States. 
The movement against the children was one feature of an agi- 
tation to exclude Japanese immigrants altogether, as Chinese 
were already excluded. It was covertly encouraged by irre- 
sponsible Americans who were predicting and even openly ad- 
vocating a war with Japan. The situation was not very serious, 
in view of the nearly unanimous desire of the people to be on 
good terms with Japan, save in the fact that the general gov- 
ernment had no power over the city government of San Fran- 
cisco and could not abrogate the acts of the school committee. 
But by dint of persuasion and warning addressed to the city 
authorities, and by tactful diplomacy with Japan, the difficulty 
was composed. The Japanese government, which was sincerely 
opposed to the emigration of its people, undertook to put a 
stop to emigration by a system of passports, which does not 
allow Japanese laborers to leave the country, and the school 
committee of San Francisco withdrew its obnoxious regulation. 
Before the close of the administration an informal but most 
important arrangement, more nearly like a national alliance 
than anything in the previous history of the country, was con- 
cluded with Japan. It was the result of several months of cor- 
respondence between Ambassador Takahira and Secretary Root, 
and took the form of identical notes exchanged by the two 
governments on the 30th of November, 1908. Following is the 
text of the notes : — 

I. It is the wish of the two governments to encourage the free 
and peaceful development of their commerce on the Pacific Ocean. 

II. The policy of both governments, uninfluenced by any ag- 
gressive tendencies, is directed to the maintenance of the existing 
status quo, in the region above mentioned, and to the defence of 
the principle of equal opportunity for commerce and industry in 
China. 

III. They are accordingly firmly resolved reciprocally to respect 
the territorial possessions belonging to each other in said region. 

IV. They are also determined to preserve the common interests 
of all powers in China by supporting, by all pacific means at their 
disposal, the independence and integrity of China and the princi- 
ple of equal opportunity for commerce and industry of all nations 
in the empire. 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 149 

V. Should any event occur threatening the status quo, as above 
described, or the principle of equal opportunity, as above described, 
it remains for the two governments to communicate with each 
other, in order to arrive at an understanding as to what measures 
they may consider it useful to take. 

It was a mere declaration of intention on the part of the two 
governments, and in no sense binding as an alliance would be ; 
it was, as Takahira expressed it, " something like a transaction 
between trusted friends," but it was universally regarded as a 
momentous event, and a complete answer to the fears — or 
the hopes — of those who foresaw a great naval struggle with 
Japan looming up before the country. 

The list of great public measures submitted to Congress dur- 
ing this administration is portentously long. The list of those 
which were enacted into law is much shorter, but probably of 
greater length than is exhibited by the history of any previous 
Congress except the First. Among the measures which failed, 
some of them of the class which the English term " hardy an- 
nuals," were ship subsidies, currency reform, national regulation, 
of insurance, regulation of child labor, copyright reform, Phil- 
ippine tariff, the admission of Porto Ricans as citizens, limita- 
tion of injunctions in labor cases, prohibition of over-capital- 
ization of corporations, and some other measures which formed 
a part of the President's policy, to be mentioned presently. 
Among those which were passed may be noted briefly — al- 
though some of them were of far-reaching importance — the 
meat-inspection law ; the pure-food law ; a codification and im- 
provement of the laws regulating naturalization; the law limit- 
ing the hours of labor of employes of railway companies engaged 
in inter-State commerce ; the law giving the government a lim- 
ited right of appeal in criminal cases ; a service pension for all 
veterans of the Civil War more than sixty-two years old ; 
and an act prohibiting contributions to political campaign 
funds by public corporations, — but the sister bill providing 
for publicity of campaign funds and expenditures was defeated. 

There were other measures, some of which were and some 
were not passed, which must be mentioned at greater length. 
They were expressive of the President's emphatic views on 
many questions of public policy, — his hostility to '^ trusts," 
his strong opinions on the subject of " overgrown fortunes " 
and " predatory wealth," his sympathy with organized labor, 



150 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

his advocacy of national regulation of corporations and partic- 
ularly of control of railways and supervision of their rates. 

In 1906 an act was passed imposing liability upon all com- 
mon carriers engaged in inter-State commerce for all injuries 
suffered by their employes while in the service of the carrier. 
In a suit appealed to the Supreme Court it was decided that 
the act was unconstitutional, inasmuch as it applied to injuries 
received when the employe was engaged in other than inter- 
State business. Accordingly another "employers' liability" act 
was passed, approved April 22, 1908, giving the right to claim 
damages to " any person suffering injury while he is employed 
by such carrier in such [that is, inter-State] commerce." This 
was a measure strongly and persistently urged by the President. 

Undoubtedly the most important law passed during the ad- 
ministration was that regulating railroad rates. It covered many 
more points than that of rate regulation. Most of the points 
were noncontroversial, but there was a strong conservative op- 
position to the provision conferring upon the Inter-State Com- 
merce Commission the right to fix maximum rates of freight 
and passenger business, and particularly to a denial of the right 
of railway companies to appeal from rate decisions by the Com- 
mission to the courts. The subject occupied a large part of the 
time of Congress, and mutually contradictory votes were passed. 
The President was most strenuous in opposition to any court 
review clause, but ultimately professed himself satisfied with 
the compromise and limited review sanctioned by the bill as it 
was passed. It became a law on June 29, 1906. It included 
among common carriers express and sleeping-car companies, and 
pipe lines for conveying oil ; and as to railroads it extended to 
such matters as terminals, storage, icing and ventilation. It 
forbade railway companies to be engaged in the transportation 
of any articles produced directly or indirectly by themselves, 
except lumber, — a provision which was intended to prohibit 
such companies from being concerned in the mining of coal, or 
from the transportation and sale of coal mined by themselves. 
It contained strict rules limiting the issue of free passes, and 
drastic clauses against giving or receiving rebates, with severe 
penalties attached to violation of the regulation. It provided 
that no changes in rates should be made except upon at least 
thirty days' notice ; and it authorized the Inter-State Commerce 
Commission to prepare a uniform system of accounts, and to 
require all companies within the jurisdiction of the law to 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 151 

adopt the system and to keep no other accounts. All these pro- 
visions were subsidiary to the grand purpose of the act, namely, 
to give the Inter-State Commerce Commission, enlarged to 
seven members, power to fix maximum rates on inter-State 
commerce transportation, which involved the power to refuse 
its consent to proposed increases of rates. 

The foregoing account of what was done, and of what was 
considered by Congress but left undone, conveys but a partial 
impression of the variety of the President's activities. He was 
interested in the conservation of national resources and in the 
Panama Canal. He established many great forest reserves, and 
when Congress passed an act that no more such reservations 
should be made except by its own authority, he made an order 
reserving seventeen million acres just before signing the act 
which took away his power. He made a personal visit to Pan- 
ama, and sent a message to Congress giving — with photo- 
graphic illustrations — the results of his observations. He made 
two changes in the administration of the canal, and when an 
attempt to have the excavation done by contract met with fail- 
ure, he entrusted the work to an army oificer of engineers, with 
the happiest results. 

It would be a hopeless task to compress within reasonable 
limits a statement of the other subjects discussed by the Pres- 
ident in his many messages to Congress and in the numerous 
speeches made by him in the course of his tours, north, south, 
and west. The keynote of a large proportion of hiis utterances 
was undying hostility to the great corporations popularly 
termed " trusts," and to the accumulation of great wealth in 
individual hands. On many occasions, even in messages to Con- 
gress, he singled out the Standard Oil Company as a malefactor 
guilty of every possible crime against the public. It is believed 
that no other President except Andrew Johnson indulged so 
freely as did he in personalities, and even Mr. Johnson did not 
denounce men or bodies of men by name in his official papers. 
These statements are not to be taken as condemnatory of Mr. 
Roosevelt, but merely as statements of fact which every reader 
will judge for himself. Beyond all doubt his attitude toward 
the trusts, and toward the Standard Oil Company in particular, 
did him no harm with the people. A large majority of the 
people were of the same way of thinking and applauded him 
hotly. It was the popular sentiment at the time, whether per- 
manent or not is for the future to show, to regard the great 



152 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

corporations as an unmitigated evil, and the possession of enor- 
mous wealth not merely as prima facie evidence but as incon- 
trovertible evidence of wrongdoing, and the existence of such 
fortunes as a curse which it was the iirst duty of statesmanship 
to remove. The prevalence of these sentiments, largely due to 
the frequent and most forcible presentation of them by the 
President, was one of the most important and striking features 
of the political thought of the time. It may be doubted whether 
it had any appreciable effect upon the result of the ensuing 
election. But it certainly rendered the task of Mr. Eoosevelt's 
successor by no means easy. 

Before entering upon the story of the canvass which culmi- 
nated in the election of 1908, it is necessary to call attention 
to the absence — to the singular absence — of the tariff ques- 
tion from the discussions in Congress and from the issues of 
the campaign. Not that the subject was altogether absent from 
the thoughts of journalists and politicians. A sentiment grad- 
ually took root in the minds of many Republicans both East 
and West in favor of a revision of the tariff. It was coupled 
with a desire for the establishment of closer trade relations with 
Canada by means of a reciprocity treaty. Those who took this 
view of the matter declared themselves loyal supporters of the 
Republican doctrine of protection, but they held that the rates 
imposed by the tariff law of 1897 were too high, and that they 
should be reduced by a reasonable amount. They denounced 
those who opposed a change, and called them, as by a term of 
reproach, "stand-patters." The question of tariff revision en- 
tered into the local politics of several States, chiefly Iowa, Wis- 
consin, and Massachusetts, and led to contests between two 
factions for governors and congressmen. Although the Pres- 
ident was believed to sympathize at least mildly with the revi- 
sionists, he was too earnest in securing the social reforms which 
he advocated to favor the taking up of the tariff question by 
Congress. Had he done so his effort would probably have met 
with failure. There were some revisionists in Congress, but the 
" stand-patters " had full control of both branches. There were 
signs, nevertheless, of great restiveness on the part of a minor- 
ity, and the germs of " insurgency " which sprouted and grew 
to maturity during the next administration were already in 
good ground. 

Mention must also be made of an event which at one time 
bade fair to be of large political importance. In Augustj 1906, 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 153 

the town of Brownsville, Texas, was "shot up." Several com- 
panies of colored infantry were in garrison in the town, and it 
was charged that a party of them went through the town by 
night firing indiscriminately into the houses, and caused much 
damage to property and injury to persons. Circumstances 
pointed strongly to the colored soldiers as the offenders, but if 
they were guilty their action was so well planned in advance 
that it was impossible to fix the guilt upon any man or even 
upon the members of any company. Nevertheless there seemed 
to be little doubt that the guilty men were among them. When 
every soldier in the garrison had denied not only participation 
in the affair but also knowledge of the guilt of any man, the 
President took the radical step of discharging all the men in 
the companies in the garrison, " without honor," forbade their 
reenlistment, and declared them ineligible to any employment 
iu a civil capacity by the government. There was a great out- 
cry against the severity of the President's order, and the special 
advocates of the colored race denounced it violently. The mat- 
ter was debated in Congress, particularly in the Senate, with 
much heat, and the order was declared to be in violation of 
army regulations and wholly beyond the President's power. 
The prohibition of civil employment was soon withdrawn, and 
sometime afterward those men who could prove that they were 
personally not concerned in the aflfair were permitted to reen- 
list. Mr. Taft, who was even then regarded as a probable can- 
didate for the presidency, was then the Secretary of War. He 
stood loyally by the President in the matter, and was then and 
afterward warned that he would be strongly opposed by the 
colored voters and their friends. It does not appear that the 
threat was effective with those who were expected to be influ- 
enced by it. 

Mr. Bryan, who had announced his purpose of devoting 
himself to organizing the progressive element of his party for 
the contest of 1908, was wise enough not to begin operations 
at once. He departed on a trip round the world, and received 
much attention in the countries which he visited. But to a 
somewhat unusual extent the canvass for the succession to Mr. 
Roosevelt was present in the minds of politicians during the 
whole four years of his term. Mr. Bryan, having returned to 
the United States in August, 1906, began to rally his adherents 
and the adherents of his policies. His first speech was at Mad- 
ison Square Garden in New York, on the 30th of August. He 



154 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

was received with much enthusiasm and outlined a part of his 
political programme. Among other measures he advocated gov- 
ernment ownership of railroads, " not as an immediate issue, 
but as an ultimate solution of the controversy." At that time 
it was generally taken for granted that he would again be the 
candidate of his party, if he should desire the nomination. 
There was no other candidate in sight. Those who had en- 
deavored in 1904 to throw off the radical yoke, and to shelve 
Mr. Bryan, had suffered such a defeat that they could hardly 
hope again to persuade the national convention to assume a 
conservative tone. They were fully as earnest in their opposi- 
tion to Mr. Bryan as before, but were silent and hopeless. Mr. 
Bryan set speculation regarding his own intentions at rest in 
a speech in Texas, in January, 1908, in which he said : " Those 
of you who never had an opportunity to hear a real live Pres- 
ident of the United States can at least say now that you have 
heard one speak who, on two occasions, cherished the delusion 
that he was going to be a real live President, and he feels the 
disease coming on again." 

It was not yet a clear field for him. There was interest, 
curiosity, not to say anxiety, on the part of many Democrats 
who saw the gradual building-up of Mr. William R. Hearst's 
" Independence League." Mr. Hearst came perilously near 
being elected Mayor of New York City in 1906, although he 
was running in opposition to the regular Democratic candidate. 
The Independence League was universally recognized as an 
organization having for its sole object the promotion of the 
political fortunes of Mr. Hearst. It was financed by him, and 
was under his immediate management and control. No one 
but himself and his intimates — possibly even they should be 
excepted — knew whether he intended to contest the Demo- 
cratic nomination or to set up an independent party and a sep- 
arate ticket. The mystery was not solved for more than a year. 

It is not to be supposed that among the regular Democrats 
there was no disposition to contest Mr.^ryan's supremacy. 
Here and there, particularly in the South, there were mutter- 
ings of discontent. Mr. Henry Watterson, of Louisville, the 
creator of many political sensations, announced in his paper, 
the "Courier- Journal," that he had found a candidate who 
could be nominated and elected. After a time he revealed the 
name of the man whom he proposed — Governor John _John - 
son, of Minnesota. The suggestion was well received, for Mr. 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 155 

Johnson had twice been successful in his canvass for the gov- 
ernorship, although his State was strongly Republican. But 
Mr. Bryan was too well entrenched. His leadership could not 
be broken. Nor did the suggestion of Judge George Gray, of 
Delaware, of Mr. Judson Harmon, of Ohio, of Mr. Hoke Smith, 
of Georgia, or of other possible candidates, disturb Mr. Bryan 
or weaken his hold on the party. 

On the Republican side there was a multiplicity of candi- 
dates. The third term idea could not be put down permanently. 
No one, even those who persisted in urging that Mr. Roosevelt 
be elected once more, questioned or doubted his sincerity and 
earnestness in refusing to be a candidate. They thought the 
Republican convention could be "stampeded," and that he 
might be nominated and elected in spite of himself. The 
President did his utmost to put a stop to the movement. But 
whenever it was renewed and he did not instantly reiterate 
his purpose, the "boomers" were encouraged. "Consider," 
they said in effect. " Suppose the convention does not ask him 
to accept another nomination. Suppose that the electors vote 
for him and elect him. He has n't said that he would not serve 
another term." Such suggestions forced the President to re- 
peat again and again his fixed determination. In December, 
1907, he gave out a statement in which, after reciting his an- 
nouncement just after the election of 1904, he said : " I have 
not changed and shall not change the decision thus announced," 
Undoubtedly the movement made a deeper impression on the 
public mind because some of those who promoted it were in 
close personal and official relations to the President. 

The third term " boom " did not prevent the friends of 
other candidates from active efforts in their behalf. Vice-Pres- 
ident Fairbanks was strongly supported not only by his State, 
Indiana, but in other parts of the country. Governor Hughes, 
of New York, whose political career, brief but brilliant, had 
won for him many friends, was a favorite candidate, less with 
the politicians than with those who prided themselves upon 
their independence. The governor wrote a letter in which he 
intimated that he would accept a nomination if it came to him 
under proper conditions, and a Hughes league was formed in 
New York. Secretary Root was favored by many men, on ac- 
count of the ability and tact he had shown in the War and 
State Departments; but the movement in his favor made 
little progress, inasmuch as opposition developed, based upon 



156 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

his relations to corporate interests before he entered the field 
of national politics. The growing band of *' insurgents," or as 
they were then called, "progressive" Republicans, urged the 
nomination of Governor Cummins, of Iowa. Then there were 
"favorite sons," — Senator Knox, of Pennsylvania, Governor 
La Follette, of Wisconsin, and Mr. Speaker Cannon, of Illinois. 
Finally there were those who advised politicians to keep an 
eye on Secretary of the Treasury George B. Cortelyou, in case 
the convention should come to a deadlock and the delegates 
should turn to a "dark horse." 

But it was not difficult for any observer to discover that 
the President's preference in the matter of his successor was 
his Secretary of War, William H. Taft, who had achieved a 
great reputation as Governor of the Philippines and had en- 
hanced it as a cabinet officer. It was alleged that the President 
used his appointing power to promote the candidacy of Judge 
Taft, — an accusation which he warmly repelled and challenged 
the citation of particulars, although he did not deny the state- 
ment that he hoped Mr. Taft would be the candidate. Senator 
Foraker, of Ohio, who was himself a candidate and announced 
his purpose to contest with Mr. Taft the election of delegates 
from Ohio, and who was by no means friendly to the President, 
openly charged improper use of the official patronage in the 
preliminaries of the canvass. In a speech at Canton, Ohio, in 
April, 1907, he said, " that the President of the United States 
should be engaged in a political contest to determine his suc- 
cessor is without a precedent, unless it be the bad precedent 
set by Andrew Jackson as to Martin Van Buren." It may be 
mentioned that when a vacancy occurred on the bench of the 
Supreme Court the seat was offered to Mr. Taft, and was de- 
clined by him, in view of his candidacy for the presidency, 
although he had a strong predilection for a judicial position. 
For a full year before the election Judge Taft was much before 
the people in many parts of the country, and made many 
speeches on public affairs. He was regarded, no doubt rightly, 
as a spokesman for the President, when the President was not 
speaking for himself. 

The first direct steps in the canvass were taken in December, 
1907, when the national committees of the two leading parties 
met to determine the time and place of holding the national 
conventions. The Republicans chose Chicago as the place and 
June 16, 1908, as the time of their meeting. The Democrats 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 157 

fixed upon Denver, and July 7. From the time the prelimin- 
aries were agreed upon there was increased political activity. 
Early in January a movement was set on foot in New York 
City by certain Democrats, — some of them citizens of other 
States, — the plain purpose of which was to eliminate Mr. 
Bryan. It was decided to have a secret conference of chosen 
men, and invitations were sent to those who had been selected. 
But the publicity that was given to the movement killed it. 
The wish to be "regular " was so strong in the minds of many 
men that there seemed to be little hope that the conference 
would be generally attended. The project was given up as 
" premature," and the invitations were withdrawn. In fact 
the effort to throw aside Mr. Bryan did not prosper. In the 
same month of January it was noised abroad that some of the 
senators and congressmen had conferred together, and that 
one or more of them would shortly advise Mr. Bryan that it 
was the general opinion of Democrats that he should with- 
draw from the field. Mr. Bryan took a characteristic course. 
He went to Washington, as if to give those who were con- 
spiring to " bell the cat " their opportunity. With one consent 
they refrained. Mr. Bryan's visit was a triumph. N"o one sug- 
gested that he should lay down the leadership. On the contrary, 
he went away from the city more evidently the leader of his 
party than ever before ; and from that time there was no doubt 
of his nomination, and no movement against it that gave the 
smallest promise of success. Yet every one knew that there 
was a certain element in the party that had never cheerfully 
submitted to his leadership, and that many men who had sup- 
ported him heartily either were tired of his ascendancy or 
doubted the expediency of nominating him for a third time. 
Late in 1907 there was a canvass by the New York " Times " 
and the Brooklyn "Eagle" of Democratic sentiment in the 
South where Mr. Bryan was strongest. The result indicated 
that, although Bryan had more supporters than any other can- 
didate, there was much lukewarmness toward him. 

On the 22d of February, 1908, there was a conference of 
Mr. Hearst's Independence League in Chicago. A platform 
was adopted, and Mr. Hearst made a speech in which he at- 
tacked both parties — the Republicans for their opposition to 
the policies which he advocated, the Democrats because they 
did not show constancy in their advocacy of those policies. It 
was decided that the provisional national committee should 



158 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

make nominations of President and Vice-President after the 
conventions of the two leading parties. 

No further political events of importance took place until 
the time for the meeting of the National Conventions. Begin- 
ning in February, there were the usual State and district con- 
ventions, which had not proceeded far before it became evident 
to all political observers that the nominations would fall to 
Mr. Taft and Mr. Bryan. 

The first convention for the nomination of candidates in 1908 
■was that of the People's party. It was held at St. Louis on. 
April 2 and 3. About three hundred delegates were said to be 
in attendance, but as was increasingly the case with the con- 
vention of that party, representation was exceedingly irregular. 
Some States were not represented at all; some were repre- 
sented by a single person who was not always a citizen of the 
State for which he acted. It was asserted on the floor that a 
resident of St. Louis was casting the entire vote, twenty-five, 
of Montana. Complaint Avas also made that certain members 
of the convention were self-appointed, no convention having 
been held to choose delegates. The fact that such statements 
were made indicates that the convention was not completely 
harmonious ; and that also is a fact. Wrangling began before 
the convention met. The Nebraska delegation and that — con- 
sisting of one man — from Minnesota, went to St. Louis with 
a demand that the convention be postponed until after the 
Democratic Convention should be held. Their purpose was 
evident. They wished to make Mr. Bryan the candidate of the 
party. If he should be nominated at Denver, well and good. If 
not, the Populists should nominate him and make inroads into 
the Democratic ranks. But the Nebraska men were in a hopeless 
minority. The '*Middle-of-the-E,oad" policy was strongly in the 
ascendant. Neither before the convention met nor at any time 
during its sessions was the proposition to postpone brought for- 
ward without meeting with overwhelming defeat. When the 
convention came to the point of deciding that nominations were 
in order, the Nebraska and Minnesota delegations withdrew. 

Jacob S. Coxey, of Ohio, was the temporary chairman of 
the convention and George H. Honnecker, of New Jersey, was 
the permanent President. The platform, which pleased the 
Nebraska and Bryan faction as little as did the resolution to 
make nominations at that time, was adopted on the 3d of April, 
and was as follows : — 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 159 

The People's Party of the United States, with increased con- 
fidence in its contentions, reaffirms the declarations made by the 
national convention at Omaha. 

The admonitions of Washington's farewell, the state papers of 
Jefferson, and the words of Lincoln are the teachings of our great- 
est apostles of human rights and political liberty. There has been a 
departure from the teachings of these great patriots during recent 
administrations. The government has been controlled so as to place 
the rights of property above the rights of humanity, has brought 
the country to a condition that is full of danger to our national 
wellbeing. Financial combinations have had too much power over 
Congress and too much influence with the administrative depart- 
ments of the government. Prerogatives of government have been 
unwisely and often corruptly surrendered to corporate monopoly 
and aggregations of predatory wealth. 

The issuing of money is a function of government and should 
not be delegated to corporation or individual. The Constitution 
gives to Congress alone the power to issue money and regulate the 
value thereof. We therefore demand that all money shall be issued 
by the government direct to the people, without the intervention 
of banks, and be a full legal tender for all debts, public and private, 
and in quantities to supply the necessity of the country. We de- 
mand that postal savings banks be instituted for the savings of 
the people. 

The public domain is the sacred heritage of all the people, and 
should be held for homesteads for actual settlers only. Alien owner- 
ship should be forbidden, and lands now held by aliens or by cor- 
porations which have violated the conditions of their grants should 
be restored to the public domain. 

To prevent unjust discrimination and monopoly, the government 
should own and control the railroads and those public utilities 
which in their nature are monopolies. To perfect the postal serv- 
ice, the government should own and operate the general telegraph 
and telephone systems and provide a parcels post. 

As to those trusts and monopolies which are not public utilities 
or natural monopolies, we demand that those special privileges 
which they now enjoy, and which alone enable them to exist, should 
be immediately withdrawn. Corporations, being the creatures of 
government, should be subjected to such govermental regulation 
and control as will adequately protect the public. We demand the 
taxation of monopoly privileges while they remain in private hands, 
to the extent of the value of the privilege granted. 

We demand that Congress shall enact a general law uniformly 
regulating the powers and duties of all incorporated companies 
doing interstate business. 



160 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

As a means of placing all public questions directly under the 
control of the people, we demand that legal provision be made un- 
der which the people may exercise the initiative, referendum, and 
proportional representation, and direct vote for all public officers, 
with the right of recall. 

We believe in the right of those who labor to organize for their 
mutual protection and benefit, and encourage the efforts of the 
People's Party to preserve this right inviolate. We condemn the 
recent attempt to destroy the power of trade unions through the 
unjust use of the Federal injunction, substituting government 
by injunction for free government. 

We favor the enactment of legislation looking to the improve- 
ment of conditions for wage-earners. We demand the abolition of 
child labor in factories and mines and the suppression of sweat 
shops. We oppose the use of convict labor in competition with free 
labor. We demand the exclusion from American shores of foreign 
pauper labor, imported to beat down the wages of intelligent 
American workingmen. We favor the eight-hour work day and 
legislation protecting the lives and limbs of workmen through the 
use of safety appliances. 

We demand the enactment of an employers' liability bill within 
constitutional bounds. We declare against a continuation of the crim- 
inal carelessness in the operation of mines, through which thou- 
sands of miners have lost their lives to increase the dividends of 
stockholders, and demand the immediate adoption of precautionary 
measures to prevent a repetition of such horrible catastrophes. 

We declare that in times of depression, when workingmen are 
thrown into enforced idleness, that works of public improvements 
should be at once inaugurated and work provided for those who 
cannot otherwise secure employment. 

We especially emphasize the declaration of the Omaha platform 
that "wealth belongs to him who creates it, and every dollar taken 
from labor without a just equivalent is robbery." 

We congratulate the farmers of the country upon the enormous 
growth of their splendid organizations and the good already ac- 
complished through them, securing higher prices for farm products 
and better conditions generally for those engaged in agricultural 
pursuits. We urge the importance of maintaining these organiza- 
tions and extending their power and influence. 

We condemn all unwarranted assumption of authority by infe- 
rior federal courts in annulling by injunction the laws of the states, 
and demand legislative action by Congress which will prohibit such 
usurpation and will restrict to the Supreme Court of the United 
States the exercise of power in cases involving state legislation. 

We are opposed to all gambling in futures. 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 161 

We present to all people the foregoing declaration of principles 
and policies as our deep, earnest and abiding convictions, and now, 
before the country and in the name of the great moral but eternal 
power in the universe that makes for right thinking and right liv- 
ing and determines the destiny of nations, this convention pledges 
that the People's Party will stand by these principles and policies 
in success and in defeat ; that never again will the party, by the 
siren songs and false promises of designing politicians, be tempted 
to change its course or be again drawn upon the treacherous rocks 
of fusion. 

Thomas E. Watson, of Georgia, was nominated for Pres- 
ident, and Samuel W. Williams, of Indiana, for Vice-President. 
Both nominations were made by acclamation. 

The convention of the Socialist party was held at Chicago, 
May 10-17. A Socialist convention differs in many important 
respects from the convention of any other party. There is nothing 
" cut and dried " about it. From beginning to end everything 
is left to decision by the convention itself, after the freest sort 
of discussion, — for the members have no hesitation in express- 
ing their opinions about one another as well as upon the sub- 
ject under consideration. It would be impracticable, doubtless 
it would also be inexpedient, for a Democratic or a Republican 
national convention to throw its platform open to unlimited 
debate, paragraph by paragraph, and even word by word, as in 
committee of the whole. But that is the way a Socialist plat- 
form is constructed. To illustrate: The platform is in three 
parts, first, a declaration of "principles"; second, the "plat- 
form " proper ; third, the " programme." When the " princi- 
ples " were under discussion a delegate called attention to the 
following sentence : " They [the capitalists] select our execu- 
tives, bribe our legislatures, and corrupt our courts of justice." 
He moved, and the convention voted, to substitute " the " for 
" our." The implication is obvious. Another member suggested 
that the words " of justice " ought to be struck out, but that 
was not done. When the platform was discussed, a delegate 
wished to make a similar change in the phrase " which our 
courts, legislatures, and executives," etc., and a debate ensued, 
in which members of the platform committee protested against 
a change which would imply that Socialists did not consider 
themselves as members of the nation, and the convention al- 
lowed the phrase to stand as given above. 



162 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

That the party should choose Sunday for its day of meeting, 
that it should change its presiding officer every day, that it 
should constitute every committee by election instead of by 
appointment, that the delegates should address one another in 
debate as "Comrade" So-and-so, — all these and other points 
that might be mentioned are indications of the extreme in- 
dependence that characterizes their conventions — an inde- 
pendence on which, with good reason, they pride themselves. 
A necessary consequence of their method is that a Socialist 
convention is protracted. That of 1908 lasted eight days, on 
each of which there were two sessions. The number of dele- 
gates probably slightly exceeded two hundred, as the largest 
number recorded on any roll-call was 198. Twenty or more of 
the number were women. Credentials were presented from 
forty-four States and two Territories, but it is not possible to 
say whether delegates were present from all those States. 

The platform, in three parts, was adopted piecemeal, at 
several sessions. As finally agreed upon it is as follows: — 

Principles 

Human life depends upon food, clothing and shelter. Only with 
these assured are freedom, culture and higher human development 
possible. To produce food, clothing or shelter, land and machin- 
ery are needed. Land alone does not satisfy human needs. Hu- 
man labor creates machinery and applies it to the land for the 
production of raw materials and food. Whoever has control of 
land and machinery controls human labor, and with it human life 
and liberty. 

To-day the machinery and the land used for industrial purposes 
are owned by a rapidly decreasing minority. So long as machin- 
ery is simple and easily handled by one man, its owner cannot 
dominate the sources of life of others. But when machinery be- 
comes more complex and expensive, and requires for its effective 
operation the organized eifort of many workers, its influence 
reaches over wide circles of life. The owners of such machinery 
become the dominant class. 

In proportion as the number of such machine owners compared 
to all other classes decreases, their power in the nation and in the 
world increases. They bring ever larger masses of working peo- 
ple under their control, reducing them to the point where muscle 
and brain are their only productive property. Millions of formerly 
self-employing workers thus become the helpless wage slaves of 
the industrial masters. 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 103 

As the economic power of the ruling class grows it becomes less 
useful in the life of the nation. All the useful work of the nation 
falls upon the shoulders of the class whose only property is its 
manual and mental labor power — the wage worker — or of the 
class who have but little land and little effective machinery outside 
of their labor power — the small traders and small farmers. The 
ruling minority is steadily becoming useless and parasitic. 

A bitter struggle over the division of the products of labor is 
waged between the exploiting propertied classes on the one hand 
and the exploited, propertyless class on the other. In this strug- 
gle the wage-working class cannot exjiect adequate relief from any 
reform of the present order at the hands of the dominant class. 

Tlie wage-workers are therefore the most determined and irre- 
concilable antagonists of the ruling class. They suffer most from 
the curse of class rule. The fact that a few capitalists are per- 
mitted to control all the country's industrial resources and social 
tools for their individual profit, and to make the production of 
the necessaries of life the object of coniyietitive private enter- 
prise and speculation is at tlie bottom of all the social evils of 
our time. 

In spite of the organization of trusts, pools and combinations, 
the capitalists are powerless to regulate reproduction for social ends. 
Industries are largely conducted in a planless manner. Through 
periods of feverish activity the strength and healtli of the workers 
are mercilessly used up. and during periods of enforced idleness 
the workers are frequently reduced to starvation. 

The climaxes of this system of production are the regularly re- 
curring industrial depressions and crises which paralyze the nation 
every tifteen or twenty years. 

The capitalist class, in its mad race for profits, is bound to ex- 
ploit the workers to the very limit of their endurance and to sacri- 
fice their physical, moral and mental welfare to its own insatiable 
greed. Capitalism keeps the masses of workingmen in poverty, 
destitution, physical exhaustion and ignorance. It drags their 
wives from their homes to the mill and factory. It snatches their 
children from the playgrounds and schools and grinds their slen- 
der bodies and unformed minds into cold dollars. It wantonly 
disfigures, maims and kills huiulreds of tiiousands of workingmen 
annually in mines, on railroads and in factories. It drives mil- 
lions of workers into the ranks of the unemployed, and forces large 
numbers of them into beggary, vagrancy and all forms of crime and 
vice. 

To maintain their rule over their fellow men, the capitalists 
must keep in their pay all organs of the public powers, public 
mind and public conscience. They control the dominating par- 



164 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

ties and, through them, the elected public officials. They select the 
executives, bribe the legislatures and corrupt the courts of justice. 
They own and censor the press. They sway our educational in- 
stitutions. They own the nation politically and intellectually just 
as they own it industrially. 

The struggle between wage-workers and capitalists grows ever 
fiercer, and has now become the only vital issue before the Amer- 
ican people. The wage-working class, therefore, has the most vital 
and direct interest in abolishing the capitalist system. But in abol- 
ishing the present system, the workingmen will free not only their 
own class, but also all other classes of modern society : The small 
farmer, who is to-day exploited by large capital more indirectly 
but not less effectively than is the wage laborer; the small manu- 
facturer and trader, who is engaged in a desperate and losing strug- 
gle for economic independence in the face of the all-conquering 
power of concentrated capital ; and even the capitalist himself, 
who is the slave of his wealth rather than its master. The struggle 
of the working class against the capitalist class, while it is a class 
struggle, is thus at the same time a struggle for the abolition of 
all classes and class privileges. 

The private ownership of the land and means of production 
used for exploitation, is the rock upon which class rule is built ; 
political government is its indispensable instrument. The wage- 
workers cannot be freed from exploitation without conquering the 
political power and substituting collective for private ownership of 
the land and means of production used for exploitation. 

The basis for such transformation is rapidly developing within 
the very bosom of present capitalist society. The factory system, 
with its immense machinery and minute division of labor, is rap- 
idly destroying all vestiges of individual production in manufac- 
ture. Modern production is already very largely a collective and 
social process, while the great trusts and monopolies which have 
sprung up in recent years have had the effect of organizing the 
work and management of some of our main industries on a na- 
tional scale, and fitting them for national use and operation. 

The Socialist party is primarily an economic and political move- 
ment. It is not concerned with matters of religious belief. 

In the struggle for freedom the interests of the workers of all 
nations are identical. The struggle is not only national but inter- 
national. It embraces the world and will be carried to ultimate 
victory by the united workers of the world. 

To unite the workers of the nation and their allies and sympa- 
thizers of all other classes to this end, is the mission of the Social- 
ist party. In this battle for freedom the Socialist party does not 
strive to substitute working class rule for capitalist class rule, but 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 1G5 

to free all humanity from class rule and to realize the international 
brotherliood of man. 

PLATFORM 

The Socialist party, in national convention assembled, in enter- 
ing upon the campaign of 1908, again presents itself to the people 
as the party of the working class, and as such it appeals for the 
support of all workers of the United States and of all citizens who 
sympathize with the great and just cause of labor. 

We are at this moment in the midst of one of those industrial 
breakdowns that periodically paralyze the life of the nation. The 
much-boasted era of our national prosperity has been followed by 
one of general misery. Factories, mills and mines are closed. Mil- 
lions of men, ready, willing and able to provide the nation with all 
the necessaries and comforts of life are forced into idleness and 
starvation. 

Within recent times the trusts and monopolies have attained an 
enormous and menacing development. They have acquired the 
power to dictate the terms upon which we shall be allowed to live. 
The trusts fix the prices of our bread, meat and sugar, of our coal, 
oil and clothing, of our raw material and machinery, of all the 
necessities of life. 

The present desperate condition of the workers has been made 
the opportunity for a renewed onslaught on organized labor. The 
highest courts of the country have within the last year rendered 
decision after decision depriving the workers of rights which they 
had won by generations of struggle. 

The attempt to destroy the Western Federation of Miners, 
although defeated by the solidarity of organized labor and the 
Socialist movement, revealed the existence of a far-reaching and 
unscrupulous conspiracy by the ruling class against the organiza- 
tion of labor. 

In their efforts to take the lives of the leaders of the miners the 
conspirators violated state laws and the federal constitution in a 
manner seldom equaled even in a country so completely domi- 
nated by the profit-seeking class as is the United States. 

The Congress of the United States has shown its contempt for 
the interests of labor as plainly and unmistakably as have the 
other branches of government. The laws for which the labor or- 
ganizations have continually petitioned have failed to pass. Laws 
ostensibly enacted for the benefit of labor have been distorted 
against labor. 

The working class of the United States cannot expect any 
remedy for its wrongs from the present ruling class or from the 
dominant parties. So long as a small number of individuals are 



166 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

permitted to control the sources of the nation's wealth for their pri- 
vate profit in competition with each other and for the exploitation 
of their fellowmen, industrial depressions are bound to occur at 
certain intervals. No currency reforms or other legislative measures 
proposed by capitalist reformers can avail against these fatal re- 
sults of utter anarchy in production. 

Individually competition leads inevitably to combinations and 
trusts. No amount of government regulation, or of publicity, or of 
restrictive legislation will arrest the natural course of modern in- 
dustrial development. 

While our courts, legislatures and executive offices remain in the 
hands of the ruling classes and their agents, the government will 
be used in the interests of these classes as against the toilers. 

Political parties are but the expression of economic class inter- 
ests. The Republican, the Democratic, and the so-called " Inde- 
pendence " parties and all parties other than the Socialist party, 
are financed, directed and controlled by the representatives of dif- 
ferent groups of the ruling class. 

In the maintenance of class government both the Democratic 
and Republican parties have been equally guilty. The Republican 
party has had control of the national government and has been 
directly and actively responsible for these wrongs. The Democratic 
party, while saved from direct responsibility by its political im- 
potence, has shown itself equally subservient to the aims of the 
capitalist class whenever and wherever it has been in power. The 
old chattel slave-owning aristocracy of the south, which was the 
backbone of the Democratic party, has been supplanted by a child 
slave plutocracy. In the great cities of our country the Democratic 
party is allied with the criminal element of the slums as the Re- 
publican party is allied with the predatory criminals of the palace 
in maintaining the interests of the possessing class. 

The various " reform " movements and parties which have 
sprung up within recent years are but the clumsy expression of 
widespread popular discontent. They are not based on an intelli- 
gent understanding of the historical development of civilization 
and of the economic and political needs of our time. They are 
bound to perish as the numerous middle class reform movements 
of the past have perished. 

PROGRAMME 

As measures calculated to strengthen the working class in its 
fight for the realization of this ultimate aim, and to increase its 
power of resistance against capitalist oppression, we advocate 
and pledge ourselves and our elected officers to the following 
programme : — 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 167 

1. The immediate government relief for the unemployed work- 
ers by building schools, by reforesting of cutover and waste lands, 
by reclamation of arid tracts, and the building of canals, and by 
extending all other useful public works. All persons employed on 
such works shall be employed directly by the government under 
an eight-hour work-day and at the prevailing union wages. The 
government shall also loan money to states and municipalities 
without interest for the purpose of carrying on public works. It 
shall contribute to the funds of labor organizations for the pur- 
pose of assisting their unemployed members, and shall take such 
other measures within its power as will lessen the widespread 
misery of the workers caused by the misrule of the capitalist 
class. 

2. The collective ownership of railroads, telegraphs, telephones, 
steamship lines and all other means of social transportation and 
communication, and all land. 

3. The collective ownership of all industries which are organized 
on a national scale and in which competition has virtually ceased 
to exist. 

4. The extension of the public domain to include mines, quar- 
ries, oil wells, forests and water-power. 

5. The scientific reforestation of timber lands, and the reclam- 
ation of swamp lands. The land so reforested or reclaimed to be 
permanently retained as a part of the public domain. 

6. The absolute freedom of press, speech and assemblage. 

7. The improvement of the industrial condition of the workers, 

(a) By shortening the workday in keeping with the increased 
productiveness of machinery. 

(b) By securing to every worker a rest period of not less than a 
day and a half in each week. 

(c) By securing a more effective inspection of workshops and 
factories. 

(d) By forbidding the employment of children under sixteen 
years of age. 

(e) By forbidding the interstate transportation of the products 
of child labor, of convict labor and of all uninspected factories. 

(/) By abolishing official charity and substituting in its place 
compulsory insurance against unemployment, illness, accident, in- 
validism, old age and death. 

8. The extension of inheritance taxes, graduated in proportion 
to the amount of the bequests and to the nearness of kin. 

9. A graduated income tax. 

10. Unrestricted and equal suffrage for men and women, and 
we pledge ourselves to engage in an active campaign in that 
direction. 



168 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

11. The initiative and referendum, proportional representation 
and the right of recall. 

12. The abolition of the senate. 

13. The abolition of the power usurped by the supreme court of 
the United States to pass upon the constitutionality of legislation 
enacted by Congress. National laws to be repealed or abrogated 
only by act of Congress or by a referendum of the whole people. 

14. That the constitution be made amendable by majority vote. 

15. The enactment of further measures for general education 
and for the conservation of health. The bureau of education to be 
made a department. The creation of a department of public health. 

16. The separation of the present bureau of labor from the 
department of commerce and labor, and the establishment of a 
department of labor. 

17. That all judges be elected by the people for short terms, and 
that the power to issue injunctions shall be curbed by immediate 
legislation. 

18. The free administration of justice. 

Such measures of relief as we may be able to force from capital- 
ism are but a preparation of the workers to seize the whole power 
of government, in order that they may thereby lay hold of the 
whole system of industry and thus come to their rightful inherit- 
ance. 

On May 14 Eugene V. Debs, of Indiana, was nominated as 
the Socialist candidate for President on the first roll-call. The 
full vote was as follows : — 

Whole vote cast 198 

For Eugene V. Debs, of Indiana 159 

For James F. Carey, of Massachusetts 16 

For Carl D. Thompson, of Wisconsin 14 

For A. M. Simons, of Illinois 9 

The nomination was then made unanimous. 

The vote for a candidate for Vice-President was as follows : — 

Whole vote cast » . . 185 

For Benjamin Hanford, of New York 106 

For Seymour Stedman, of Illinois 42 

For May Wood Simons, of Illinois 20 

For John W. Slayton, of Pennsylvania 15 

For Caleb Lipscomb, of Missouri 1 

For G. W. Woodby, of California 1 

The nomination of Mr. Hanford was also made unanimous. 
It is an interesting fact that with the exception of Mr. Debs 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 169 

every person voted for as a candidate for either President or 
Vice-President was an active member of the convention ; also 
that one of the persons voted for as a candidate for Vice- 
President was the wife of one who received votes as a candi- 
date for President. 

The Republican National Convention was held at Chicago 
on June 16. Julius C. Burroughs, of Michigan, was the tem- 
porary chairman, and Henry Cabot Lodge, of Massachusetts, 
was the permanent president. 

Although the nomination of Judge Taft was practically as- 
sured, the proceedings of the convention did not lack interest. 
The friends of other candidates refused to give up hope. They 
were encouraged — not to a great extent, to be sure — by a 
certain opposition to Taft inspired by a feeling that he was 
too closely identified with, and too strongly committed to, the 
Roosevelt policies. For there was a contingent of the delegates 
who were not radical in their opinions. But the shadow of 
Roosevelt covered the convention ; and neither the conserva- 
tives nor those who were not so much opposed to Taft as 
favorable to other candidates, when the two bodies were 
united, could emerge from that shadow. There was a certain 
amount of concerted action by the advocates of Fairbanks, 
Hughes, and Cannon, who were known as "the allies." They 
were not merely a minority, in the end they were not a united 
minority. 

Prior to the meeting of the convention the National Com- 
mittee took up the matter of contested seats. Most of the con- 
tests were of a frivolous nature ; a few had some basis. The 
decisions of the committee were almost uniformly in favor of 
the "regular" delegates, who were committed to Taft. There 
is no reason to think that the decisions were wrong, or even 
doubtful, although the ways of Republican conventions in the 
Southern States, whence nearly all the contests arose, are not 
always strictly fair and praiseworthy. The friends of candi- 
dates whose contesting delegates were rejected at first declared 
their purpose of carrying the matter before the full conven- 
tion, but ultimately they recognized the hopelessness of such 
a step, and refrained. 

There were of course differences over the platform, for the 
conservatives were not disposed to surrender their principles. 
The controversy, such as it was, came upon what was known 



170 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

as the "anti-injunction" plank. The term was a misnomer, 
for it was not proposed to forbid injunctions in labor disputes, 
but to urge certain restrictions upon the issuance of writs of 
injunction. As it was finally adopted by probably two thirds of 
the Committee on Resolutions, it was not a particularly vigor- 
ous paragraph, but it was said to embody the views of Mr. 
Taft and the President, and was adopted on that account. 
The opposition was not directed so much against the principle 
stated, as against the recognition of the principle as a political 
issue. 

As was expected, there was an attempt to stampede the con- 
vention for Roosevelt, but if such a movement ever had a 
chance of success, that chance was thrown away prematurely. 
Senator Lodge, in his speech on taking the chair as President, 
made a most complimentary allusion to the President as "the 
best abused and the most popular man in the United States 
to-day." Vigorous applause greeted the remark, and the ap- 
plause was quickly taken up by the throngs in the galleries. 
It did not cease, but was continued long after the delegates 
had quieted down. Still it continued. Whether the galleries 
were "packed" in any other sense than that of being uncom- 
fortably full, no one knows. Possibly the crowd was carried 
away by its own enthusiasm, born at the moment. Probably 
not one person in ten who applauded had heard distinctly the 
words he was cheering. At all events, the din lasted fortj- 
six minutes. It had no effect upon the delegates. They had 
gone to Chicago to nominate Taft, and were not to be moved 
from their purpose by a gallery demonstration which might 
be spontaneous — and might not be. 

The platform was reported on the third day of the conven- 
tion, June 19, and after a discussion of unusual length was 
adopted. It was as follows : — 

Once more the Republican party, in national convention assem- 
bled, submits its cause to the people. This great historic organiza- 
tion that destroyed slavery, preserved the Union, restored credit, 
expanded the national domain, established a sound financial sys- 
tem, developed the industries and resources of the country, and 
gave to the nation her seat of honor in the councils of the world, 
now meets the new problems of government with the same courage 
and capacity with which it solved the old. 

In this the great era of American advancement the Republican 
party has reached its highest service under the leadership of 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 171 

Theodore Roosevelt. His administration is an epoch in American 
history. In no other period since national sovereignty was won 
under Washington, or preserved under Lincoln, has there been such 
mighty progress in those ideals of government which make for 
justice, equality, and fair dealing among men. The highest aspira- 
tions of the American people have found a voice. Their most 
exalted servant represents the best aims and worthiest purposes of 
all his countrymen. American manhood has been lifted to a nobler 
sense of duty and obligation. Conscience and courage in public sta- 
tion, and higher standards of right and wrong in private life have 
become cardinal principles of political faith ; capital and labor have 
been brought into closer relations of confidence and interdepend- 
ence, and the abuse of wealth, the tyranny of power, and all the 
evils of privilege and favoritism have been put to scorn by the 
simple, manly virtues of justice and fair play. 

The great accomplishments of President Roosevelt have been, 
first and foremost, a brave and impartial enforcement of the law, 
the prosecution of illegal trusts and monopolies, the exposure and 
punishment of evildoers in the public service, the more effective 
regulation of the rates and service of the great transportation 
lines, the complete overthrow of preferences, rebates, and discrimi- 
nations, the arbitration of labor disputes, the amelioration of the 
condition of wage-workers everywhere, the conservation of the nar 
tural resources of the country, the forward step in the improvement 
of the inland waterways, and always the earnest support and de- 
fence of every wholesome safeguard which has made more secure 
the guarantees of life, liberty, and property. 

These are the achievements that will make for Theodore Roose- 
velt his place in history, but more than all else the great things he 
has done will be an inspiration to those who have yet greater 
things to do. We declare our unfaltering adherence to the policies 
thus inaugurated, and pledge their continuance under a Republican 
administration of the government. 

Under the guidance of Republican principles the American peo- 
ple have become the richest nation in the world. Our wealth to- 
day exceeds that of England and all her colonies, and that of 
France and Germany combined. When the Republican party was 
born, the total wealth of the country was $16,000,000,000. I't has 
leaped to .^110,000,000,000 in a generation, while Great Britain has 
gathered but $60,000,000,000 in five hundred years. The United 
States now owns one fourth of the world's wealth and makes one 
third of all modern manufactured products. In the great necessities 
of civilization, such as coal, the motive power of all activity ; iron, 
the chief basis of all industry ; cotton, the staple foundation of all 
fabrics ; wheat, corn, and all the agricultural products that feed 



172 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

mankind, America's supremacy is undisputed. And yet her great 
natural wealth has been scarcely touched. We have a vast domain 
of 3,000,000 square miles, literally bursting with latent treasure, 
still waiting the magic of capital and industry to be converted to 
the practical uses of mankind ; a country rich in soil and climate, 
in the unharnessed energy of its rivers, and in all the varied pro- 
ducts of the field, the forest, and the factory. With gratitude for 
God's bounty, with pride in the splendid productiveness of the 
past, and with confidence in the plenty and prosperity of the future, 
the Republican party declares for the principle that in the de- 
velopment and enjoyment of wealth so great and blessings so 
benign there shall be equal opportunity for all. 

Nothing so clearly demonstrates the sound basis upon which 
our commercial, industrial, and agricultural interests are founded, 
and the necessity of promoting their continued welfare through the 
operation of Republican policies as the recent safe passage of the 
American people through a financial disturbance which, if appear- 
ing in the midst of Democratic rule or the menace of it, might 
have equalled the familiar Democratic panics of the past. We con- 
gratulate the people upon the renewed evidence of American su- 
premacy, and hail with confidence the signs now manifest of a 
complete restoration of business prosperity in all lines of trade, 
commerce, and manufacturing. 

Since the election of William McKinley, in 1896, the people of 
this country have felt anew the wisdom of intrusting to the 
Republican party, through decisive majorities, the control and 
direction of national legislation. The many wise and progressive 
measures adopted at recent sessions of Congress have demonstrated 
the patriotic resolve of Republican leadership in the legislative 
department to keep step in the forward march toward better gov- 
ernment. Notwithstanding the indefensible filibustering of a 
Democratic minority in the House of Representatives during the 
last session, many wholesome and progressive laws were enacted, 
and we especially commend the passage of the emergency currency 
bill ; the appointment of the national monetary commission ; the 
employers' and government liability laws ; the measures for the 
greater efficiency of the army and navy ; the widows' pension bill ; 
the child labor law for the District of Columbia ; the new statutes 
for the safety of railroad engineers and firemen ; and many other 
acts conserving the public welfare. 

The Republican party declares unequivocally for a revision of 
the tariff by a special session of Congress immediately following 
the inauguration of the next President, and commends the steps 
already taken to this end in the work assigned to the appropriate 
committees of Congress, which are now investigating the operation 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 173 

and effect of existing schedules. In all tariff legislation the true 
principle of protection is best maintained by the imposition of such 
duties as will equal the difference between the cost of production 
at home and abroad, together with a reasonable profit to American 
industries. We favor the establishment of maximum and mini- 
mum rates to be administered by the President under limitations 
fixed by the law, the maximum to be available to meet discrimi- 
nations by foreign countries against American goods entering their 
markets, and the minimum to represent the normal measure of 
protection at home ; the aim and purpose of the Republican policy 
being not only to preserve, without excessive duties, that security 
against foreign competition to which American manufacturers, 
farmers, and producers are entitled, but also to maintain the high 
standard of living of the wage-earners of this country, who are 
the most direct beneficiaries of the protective system. Between 
the United States and the Philippines we believe in a free inter- 
change of products with such limitations as to sugar and tobacco 
as will afford adequate protection to domestic interests. 

We approve the emergency measures adopted by the government 
during the recent financial disturbance, and especially commend 
the passage by Congress, at the last session, of the law designed to 
protect the country from a repetition of such stringency. The 
Republican party is committed to the development of a permanent 
currency system, responding to our greater needs, and the appoint- 
ment of the national monetary commission by the present Congress, 
which will impartially investigate all proposed methods, insures 
the early realization of this purpose. The present currency laws 
have fully justified their adoption, but an expanding commerce, 
a marvellous growth in wealth and population, multiplying the 
centres of distribution, increasing the demand for the movement 
of crops in the West and South and entailing periodic changes in 
monetary conditions, disclose the need of a moi'e elastic and 
adaptable system. Such a system must meet the requirements of 
agriculturists, manufacturers, merchants, and business men gen- 
erally, must be automatic in operation, minimizing the fluctuations 
in interest rates, and above all, must be in harmony with that 
Republican doctrine which insists that every dollar shall be based 
upon and as good as gold. 

We favor the establishment of a postal savings bank system for 
the convenience of the people and the encouragement of thrift. 

The Republican party passed the Sherman anti-trust law over 
Democratic opposition, and enforced it after Democratic derelic- 
tion. It has been a wholesome instrument for good in the hands of 
a wise and fearless administration. But experience has shown that 
its effectiveness can be strengthened and its real objects better 



174 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

attained by such amendments as will give to the federal govern- 
ment greater supervision and control over, and secure greater pub- 
licity in, the management of that class of corporations engaged 
in interstate commerce having power and opportunity to effect 
monopolies. 

We approve the enactment of the railroad rate law and the vigor- 
ous enforcement by the present administration of the statutes 
against rebates and discriminations, as a result of which the ad- 
vantages formerly possessed by the large shipper over the small 
shipper have substantially disappeared ; and in this connection we 
commend the appropriation by the present Congress to enable the 
Interstate Commerce Commission to thoroughly investigate, and 
give publicity to, the accounts of interstate railroads. We believe, 
however, that the interstate commerce law should be further 
amended so as to give railroads the right to make and publish 
traffic agreements subject to the approval of the commission, but 
maintaining always the principle of competition between naturally 
competing lines and avoiding the common control of such lines by 
any means whatsoever. We favor such national legislation and 
supervision as will prevent the future overissue of stocks and bonds 
by interstate carriers. 

The enactment in constitutional form at the present session of 
Congress of the employers' liability law, the passage and enforce- 
ment of the safety appliance statutes, as well as the additional 
protection secured for engineers and firemen ; the reduction in the 
hours of labor of trainmen and railroad telegraphers, the success- 
ful exercise of the powers of mediation and arbitration between 
interstate railroads and their employes, and the law making a be- 
ginning in the policy of compensation for injured employes of the 
government, are among the most commendable accomplishments 
of the present administration. But there is further work in this 
direction yet to be done, and the Republican party pledges its con- 
tinued devotion to every cause that makes for safety and the bet- 
terment of conditions among those whose labor contributes so 
much to the progress and welfare of the country. 

The same wise policy which has induced the Republican party 
to maintain protection to American labor, to establish an eight- 
hour day in the construction of all public works, to increase the 
list of employes who shall have preferred claims for wages under 
the bankruptcy laws, to adopt a child labor statute for the District 
of Columbia, to direct an investigation into the condition of work- 
ing women and children, and, later, of employes of telephone and 
telegraph companies engaged in interstate business ; to appropri- 
ate f 150,000 at the recent session of Congi-ess in order to secure 
a thorough inquiry into the causes of catastrophes and loss of life 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 175 

in the mines, and to amend and strengthen the law prohibiting the 
importation of contract labor, will be pursued in every legitimate 
direction within federal authority to lighten the burdens and in- 
crease the opportunity for happiness and advancement of all who 
toil. The Republican party recognizes the special needs of wage- 
workers generally, for their well-being means the well-being of all. 
But more important than all other considerations is that of good 
citizenship, and we especially stand for the needs of every Ameri- 
can, whatever his occupation, in his capacity as a self-respecting 
citizen. 

The Republican party will uphold at all times the authority and 
integrity of the courts, state and federal, and will ever insist that 
their powers to enforce their process and to protect life, liberty and 
property shall be preserved inviolate. We believe, however, that 
the rules of procedure in the federal courts with respect to the 
issuance of the writ of injunction should be more accurately de- 
fined by statute, and that no injunction or temporary restraining 
order should be issued without notice, except where irreparable 
injury would result from delay, in which case a speedy hearing 
thereafter should be granted. 

Among those whose welfare is as vital to the welfare of the whole 
country as is that of the wage-earner is the American farmer. The 
prosperity of the country rests peculiarly upon the prosperity of 
agriculture. The Republican party during the last twelve years has 
accomplished extraordinary work in bringing the resources of the 
national government to the aid of the farmer, not only in advanc- 
ing agriculture itself, but in increasing the conveniences of rural 
life. Free rural mail delivery has been established ; it now reaches 
millions of our citizens, and we favor its extension until every com- 
munity in the land receives the full benefits of the postal service. 
We recognize the social and economic advantages of good country 
roads, maintained more and more largely at public expense and less 
and less at the expense of the abutting owner. In this work we 
commend the growing practice of state aid, and we approve the 
efforts of the national Agricultural Department by experiments 
and otherwise to make clear to the public the best methods of road 
construction. 

The Republican party has been for more than fifty years the 
consistent friend of the American negro. It gave_him freedom and 
citizenship. It wrote into the organic law the declarations that 
proclaim his civil and political rights, and it believes to-day that 
his noteworthy progress in intelligence, industry, and good citizen- 
ship has earned the respect and encouragement of the nation. We 
demand equal justice for all men, without regard to race or color; 
we declare once more, and without reservation, for the enforcement 



176 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

in letter and spirit of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth 
amendments to the Constitution, which were designed for the pro- 
tection and advancement of the negro, and we condemn all devices 
that have for their real aim his disfranchisement for reasons of 
color alone, as unfair, un-American, and repugnant to the supreme 
law of the land. 

We indorse the movement inaugurated by the administration 
for the conservation of natural resources ; we approve all measures 
to prevent the waste of timber ; we commend the work now going 
on for the reclamation of arid lands, and reaffirm the Republican 
policy of the free distribution of the available areas of the public 
domain to the landless settler. No obligation of the future is more 
insistent, and none will result in greater blessings to posterity. In 
line with this splendid undertaking is the further duty, equally 
imperative, to enter upon a systematic improvement upon a large 
and comprehensive plan, just to all portions of the country, of the 
waterways, harbors, and Great Lakes, whose natural adaptability 
to the increasing traffic of the land is one of the greatest gifts of a 
benign Providence. 

The present Congress passed many commendable acts increasing 
the efficiency of the army and navy ; making the militia of the 
states an integral part of the national establishment ; authorizing 
joint mancBuvres of army and militia ; fortifying new naval bases 
and completing the construction of coaling stations; instituting a 
female nurse corps for naval hospitals and ships, and adding two 
new battleships, ten torpedo boat destrofyers, thi'ee steam colliers 
and eight submarines to the strength of the navy. Although at 
peace with all the world, and secure in the consciousness that the 
American people do not desire and will not provoke a war with any 
other country, we nevertheless declare our unalterable devotion to 
a policy that will keep this Republic ready at all times to defend 
her traditional doctrines, and assure her appropriate part in pro- 
moting permanent tranquillity among the nations. 

We commend the vigorous efforts made by the administration 
to protect American citizens in foreign lands, and pledge ourselves 
to insist on the just and equal protection of all our citizens abroad. 
It is the unquestioned duty of the government to procure for all 
our citizens, without distinction, the rights of travel and sojourn 
],n friendly countries, and we declare ourselves in favor of all proper 
efforts tending to that end. 

Under the administration of the Republican party, the foreign 
commerce of the United States has experienced a remarkable 
growth, until it has a present annual valuation of approximately 
if 3,000,000,000, and gives employment to a vast amount of labor and 
capital which would otherwise be idle. It has inaugurated through 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 177 

the recent visit of the Secretary of State to South America and 
Mexico anew era of Pan-American commerce and comity which is 
bringing us into closer touch with our twenty sister American 
republics, having a common historical heritage, a republican form 
of government, and offering us a limitless field of legitimate com- 
mercial expansion. 

The conspicuous contributions of American statesmanship to the 
great cause of international peace so signally advanced in the 
Hague conferences, are an occasion for just pride and gratification. 
At the last session of the Senate of the United States eleven Hague 
conventions were ratified, establishing the rights of neutrals, laws 
of war on land, restriction of submarine mines, limiting the use of 
force for the collection of contractual debts, governing the opening 
of hostilities, extending the application of Geneva principles, and 
in many ways lessening the evils of war and promoting the peace- 
ful settlement of international controversies. At the same session 
twelve arbitration conventions with great nations were confirmed, 
and extradition, boundary, and neutralization treaties of supreme 
importance were ratified. We indorse such achievements as the 
highest duty a people can perform, and proclaim the obligation of 
further strengthening the bonds of friendship and good-will with 
all the nations of the world. 

We adhere to the Republican doctrine of encouragement to 
American shipping, and urge such legislation as will revive the 
merchant marine prestige of the country, so essential to national 
defence, the enlargement of foreign trade, and the industrial pro- 
sperity of our own people. 

Another Republican policy which must ever be maintained is 
that of generous provision for those who have fought the country's 
battles, and for the widows and orphans of those who have fallen. 
We commend the increase in the widows' pensions, made by the 
present Congress, and declare for a liberal administration of all 
pension laws, to the end that the people's gratitude may grow 
deeper as the memories of heroic sacrifice grow more sacred with 
the passing years. 

We reaffirm our declarations that the Civil Service laws, enacted, 
extended, and enforced by the Republican party, shall continue to 
be maintained and obeyed. 

We commend the efforts designed to secure greater efficiency in 
national public health agencies, and favor such legislation as will 
effect this purpose. 

In the interest of the great mineral industries of our country, we 
earnestly favor the establishment of a bureau of mines and mining. 

The American government, in Republican hands, has freed 
Cuba, given peace and protection to Porto Rico and the Philip- 



178 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

pines under our flag, and begun the construction of the Panama 
Canal. The present conditions in Cuba vindicate the wisdom of 
maintaining between that republic and this imperishable bonds 
of mutual interest, and the hope is now expi'essed that the Cuban 
people will soon again be ready to assume complete sovereignty 
over their land. 

In Porto Rico the government of the United States is meeting 
loyal and patriotic support ; order and prosperity prevail, and the 
well-being of the people is in every respect promoted and conserved. 

We believe that the native inhabitants of Porto Rico should be 
at once collectively made citizens of the United States, and that 
all others properly qualified under existing laws residing in said 
island should have the privilege of becoming naturalized. 

In the Philippines insurrection has been suppressed, law is estab- 
lished, and life and property are made secure. Education and prac- 
tical experience are there advancing the capacity of the people for 
government, and the policies of McKinley and Roosevelt are lead- 
ing the inhabitants step by step to an ever increasing measure of 
home rule. 

Time has justified the selection of the Panama route for the 
great isthmian canal, and events have shown the wisdom of secur- 
ing authority over the zone through which it is to be built. The 
work is now progressing with a rapidity far beyond expectation, 
and already the realization of the hopes of centuries has come 
within the vision of the near future. 

We favor the immediate admission of the territories of New 
Mexico and Arizona as separate states in the Union. 

February 12, 1909, will be the 100th anniversary of the birth of 
Abraham Lincoln, an immortal spirit, whose fame has brightened 
with the receding years, and whose name stands among the first of 
those given to the world by the great republic. We recommend 
that this centennial anniversary be celebrated throughout the con- 
fines of the nation by all the people thereof, and especially by the 
public schools as an exercise to stir the patriotism of the youth of 
the land. 

We call the attention of the American people to the fact that 
none of the great measures here advocated by the Republican party 
could be enacted, and none of the steps forward here proposed could 
betaken under a Democratic administration or under one in which 
party responsibility is divided. The continuance of present policies, 
therefore, absolutely requires the continuance in power of that 
party which believes in them and which possesses the capacity to 
put them into operation. 

Beyond all platform declarations there are fundamental differ- 
ences between the Republican party and its chief opponent which 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 179 

make the one worthy and the other unworthy of public trust. In 
history the difference between Democracy and Republicanism is 
that the one stood for debased currency, the other for honest cur- 
rency ; the one for free silver, the other for sound money ; the one 
for free trade, the other for protection ; the one for the contraction 
of American influence, the other for its expansion ; the one has 
been forced to abandon every position taken on the great issues 
before the peojile, the other has held and vindicated all. 

In experience the difference between Democracy and Republi- 
canism is that one means adversity, while the other means prosper- 
ity ; one means low wages, the other means high ; one means doubt 
and debt, the other means confidence and thrift. 

In principle the difference between Democracy and Republican- 
ism is that one stands for vacillation and timidity in government, 
the other for strength and purpose ; one stands for obstruction, the 
other for construction ; one promises, the other performs ; one finds 
fault, the other finds work. 

The present tendencies of the two parties are even more marked 
by inherent differences. The trend of Democracy is toward social- 
ism, while the Republican party stands for wise and regulated 
individualism. Socialism would destroy wealth, Republicanism 
would prevent its abuse. Socialism would give to each an equal 
right to take ; Republicanism would give to each an equal right to 
earn. Socialism would offer an equality of possession, which would 
soon leave no one anything to possess ; Republicanism would give 
equality of opportunity, which would assure to each his share of a 
constantly increasing sum of possessions. In line M'ith this ten- 
dency the Democratic party of to-day believes in government 
ownership, while the Republican party believes in government 
regulation. Ultimately Democracy would have the nation own the 
people, while Republicanism would have the people own the nation. 

Upon this platform of principles and purposes, reaffirming our 
adherence to every Republican doctrine proclaimed since the birth 
of the party, we go before the country, asking the support not only 
of those who have acted with us heretofore, but of all our fellow 
citizens who, regardless of past political differences, unite in the 
desire to maintain the policies, perpetuate the blessings, and make 
secure the achievements of a greater America. 

A minority report was submitted by Mr. Cooper, of Wis- 
consin, the only member of the Committee on Resolutions 
who dissented from the platform. He was a representative of 
the views of Governor La Follette, who had succeeded in 
bringing the Republican party of Wisconsin to the support of 
a radical policy — radical, that is, in comparison with the gen- 



180 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

eral body of opinion in the party, and even more radical than 
the position of Mr. Roosevelt. Mr. Cooper proposed substitutes 
for many of the paragraphs in the majority report, and addi- 
tional paragraphs on subjects not mentioned in that report. 
The minority report thus expressed dissent on the planks re- 
lating to the tariff, to the " trusts," to the regulation of rail- 
road rates, and to the issuance of injunctions in labor cases, 
and it advocated a law requiring the publicity of campaign 
expenses, the physical valuation of railroads, an eight-hour 
law for all persons employed on public works, and the election 
of United States Senators by direct popular vote. After Mr. 
Cooper had advocated his minority report, a vote was taken 
on the substitute with the exception of these reserved para- 
graphs, and the substitute was rejected, ayes 28, noes 952. 
Twenty-five of the affirmative votes were given by Wisconsin. 
The paragraph relating to the publicity of campaign expenses 
was rejected, ayes 94, nays 880. That relating to the physical 
valuation of railroads was rejected, ayes 63, noes 917. That 
relating to the election of senators was rejected, ayes 114, 
noes 866. The platform as a whole was then adopted by a 
viva voce vote, with apparent although of course not absolute 
unanimity. 

Nominations for the office of President were next in order, 
and the names of Mr. Cannon, Mr. Fairbanks, Secretary Taft, 
Governor Hughes, Mr. Foraker, and Mr. La Follette were 
presented, with the usual demonstrations by the partisans of 
each. But that demonstration was varied when the name of 
Governor La Follette was presented. One of the persons in 
the assemblage held up a large portrait of tlie President, and 
immediately there was an outburst of applause which was 
long continued, even after the sergeant-at-arms had required 
the portrait to be taken down. Then a man in the gallery un- 
furled a large flag bearing a portrait of Mr. Roosevelt, and the 
uproar became greater than ever. Mr. Lodge directed the roll 
of States to be called, and roll-call began in the midst of the 
turmoil. The second attempt to stampede the convention failed. 

Mr. Taft was nominated on the first roll-call. The vote 
stood thus : — 

Whole number voting 979 

Necessary to a choice 490 

William H. Taft, of Ohio 702 

Philander C. Knox, of Pennsylvania 68 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 181 

Charles E. Hughes, of New York 67 

Joseph G. Cannon, of Illinois 58 

Charles W. Fairbanks, of Indiana ' 40 

Robert E. La Follette, of Wisconsin 25 

Joseph B. Foraker, of Ohio 16 

Theodore Roosevelt, of New York 3 

Mr. Taft had at least one vote from every State and Terri- 
tory except Indiana, which cast its full vote for Mr. Fairbanks, 
who had ten scattering votes from other States. Most of the 
other candidates received votes chiefly as "favorite sons." 
Thus Mr. Knox had only four votes from outside of Pennsyl- 
vania ; Mr. Hughes only two from outside of NeAV York ; Mr. 
Cannon but seven from States other than Illinois; and Mr. 
La Follette's votes came from Wisconsin only. Save four votes 
for Mr. Foraker from Ohio, the rest were given by Southern 
delegates. Three Pennsylvanians gave Mr. Roosevelt their 
votes. The nomination of Mr. Taft was made unanimous. 

The nomination of a candidate for Vice-President was made 
on the fourth day of the convention. As the choice of Mr. 
Taft was assured long before the convention met, there was 
much canvassing by the friends of several candidates for the 
vice-presidency. Efforts were made to induce Mr. Fairbanks 
again to accept the second place on the ticket, but he stead- 
fastly refused. There was also a strong movement to nominate 
Governor Hughes, when his candidacy for the first place was 
seen to be hopeless, but he also declined peremptorily. The 
first roll-call resulted as follows : — 

Whole number voting 980 

Necessary to a choice 491 

James S. Sherman, of New York 816 

Franklin Murphy, of New Jersey 77 

Curtis Guild, Jr., of Massachusetts 75 

George L. Sheldon, of Nebraska 16 

Charles W. Fairbanks, of Indiana 1 

The nomination of Mr. Sherman was made unanimous, and 
the convention adjourned. 

The Socialist Labor Convention was held at New York, 
July 2. Twelve States were represented, and the number of 
delegates was twenty-three. E. Passams, of New York, was 
the permanent chairman, although he was elected and reelected 
day by day. On the first day of the convention a delegate from 



182 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

a local Socialist Club was received, who urged the convention 
to indorse the nomination of Mr. Debs. There was a long dis- 
cussion of the proposition, which no member of the convention 
supported, and in the end it was unanimously rejected. Two 
days were occupied in the determination of various matters 
concerning the policy of the party and in debate on propositions 
to amend its constitution. On the 5th of July the platform 
was adopted. Inasmuch as it was the platform of 1904 with- 
out any change whatever, it is omitted here.^ When the nom- 
ination of candidates was in order, Mr. Daniel De Leon pre- 
sented the name of Martin B. Preston, of Nevada, as candidate 
for the office of President. The only reason for the selection 
which he gave was that Mr. Preston, when acting as "picket" 
for his labor union in a time of strike, had killed a man who 
opposed him, for which deed he was convicted and sentenced 
to a term of twenty-five years' imprisonment in the Nevada 
State prison. In 1908 he had completed three years of the 
term. Mr. De Leon also remarked that Preston was ten years 
under the constitutional age for holding the office, but he pre- 
dicted that if he were elected he would be allowed to enter 
upon the duties of the office. The report of the convention in 
the official organ of the party says that the nomination was 
unanimously approved " with indescribable enthusiasm." The 
business of the convention was completed by the nomination 
of Donald L. Munro, of Virginia, as a candidate for Vice- 
President. In consequence of the ineligibility of the candidate 
for President, August Gilhaus, of New York, was afterward 
placed at the head of the ticket. 

The Democratic Convention was held, July 7-10, at Den- 
ver, the most western point at which a national political con- 
vention has been held. Both the preliminaries and the proceed- 
ings of the Convention were of unusual interest. Theodore A. 
Bell, of Colorado, was the temporary chairman, and Henry D. 
Clayton of Alabama, the permanent president. 

Although the nomination of Mr. Bryan was as fully assured 
as any future event could be, there was earnest and even vio- 
lent opposition to him by the conservative element, represented 
by the supporters of Judge Gray, of Delaware, and of Gov- 
ernor Johnson, of Minnesota. They hoped against hope. They 
urged that Mr. Bryan had less than the necessary two thirds 
1 See page 112. 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 183 

of pledged delegates, that Mr. Bryan could not be elected, and 
that when the first vote should show him to have less than the 
requisite majority, the delegates would turn to one or the other 
of the opposing candidates. Although they put forward the ar- 
gument with confidence and pertinacity, they allowed doubters 
to suspect that confidence by suggesting ever and anon that if 
Mr. Bryan should be chosen it would be well to balance the 
ticket by placing either Judge Gray or Governor Johnson 
upon it as the candidate for the second place. But both those 
gentlemen refused in the most emphatic terms to be considered 
for the vice-presidency, and were forced by the persistence of 
their advocates to repeat the refusal, time and again. 

The issue, so far as the nomination of Mr. Bryan was con- 
cerned, was so generally taken for granted that most of the 
leading delegates, and large numbers of the rank and file, made 
the journey westward by way of Lincoln, Nebraska, Mr. Bry- 
an's home, and consulted with him about the other matters to 
be considered by the convention. It was recognized as alto- 
gether desirable that both his " running mate " and the declar- 
ation of principles in the platform should be thoroughly accept- 
able to him. In the end this was effected. The language of the 
platform on points about which there was some controversy, 
was submitted to him before being read to the convention, and 
he is understood to have indicated his choice of the candidate 
ultimately selected for the vice-presidency. 

Several days before the opening of the convention, while 
the delegates were gathering at Denver, an angry controversy 
broke out over a proposition to pass a resolution laudatory of 
President Cleveland, whose death occurred on June 24, a fort- 
night before the meeting of the convention. Judge Parker, 
who had been the candidate of the party in 1904, let it be 
known that he had prepared such a resolution, which was to 
be offered at the close of the first day's session. The text of 
the resolution was published and excited the liveliest indigna- 
tion of the supporters of Mr. Bryan, for the statements it con- 
tained that Mr. Cleveland " respected the integrity of the 
courts," and •' maintained the public credit, and stood firm as 
a rock in defence of sound principles of finance," were re- 
garded as open attacks upon Mr. Bryan and his attitude on 
two matters of public policy. Judge Parker denied that he had 
any purpose of assailing Mr. Bryan, but those in control of 
affairs took the very proper position that phrases capable of 



I 



184 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

bearing the interpretation Mr. Bryan's friends put upon them, 
should not appear in a resolution to be considered by the con- 
vention. They therefore determined that an iinobjectionable 
resolution should be prepared and presented by some person 
other than Judge Parker. The plan was carried out. When 
the resolution was offered on the first day of the Convention, 
Judge Parker was called to his feet by cries from delegates, 
and read a mild and inoffensive draft which he had intended 
to offer, if the chairman had recognized him, but he did not 
offer it and contented himself with seconding that already before 
the Convention, which was unanimously adopted. 

Three most important matters caused great and prolonged 
discussion both without and within the convention : the vice- 
presidency, the decision as to contested seats, and the platform. 
There were receptive candidates for the second place on the 
ticket from a dozen or more of the States, beside the two ob- 
durately non-receptive candidates already named, who were 
nevertheless urged with unyielding persistence. But the con- 
troversy over that nomination gradually died out as it became 
universally admitted that the final choice must be made by 
Mr. Bryan himself. 

The contested seats were many. Idaho sent two sets of del- 
egates, — one " anti-Mormon," — the other, of course, not 
" Mormon," but opposed to the programme of the " anti- Mor- 
mon " set. There was a contest in Illinois which involved a 
question of the leadership of the party in the State. Similarly 
a contest over the delegates from the districts in Brooklyn, New 
York, was really between Tammany Hall and the local leader. 
The most interesting of all were contests in Pennsylvania, 
where the leadership of Colonel J. M. Guifey was at stake. 
There had been and still was a violent personal controversy 
between Mr. Bryan and Col. Guffey. The National Committee, 
as was customary, heard the parties to the several contests and 
made the preliminary roll of the convention, but the commit- 
tee on credentials devoted no less than seventeen hours to 
hearing and determining the contests. In two of the cases 
the committee, and the convention which adopted its conclu- 
sions, seem to have taken the wish of a majority of the dele- 
gates, and consulted Mr. Bryan's interests, rather than regarded 
the facts of the election, as their guide. At all events, Tam- 
many was victorious in the Brooklyn case, and Colonel Guffey's 
delegates were excluded. If less than justice was done in these 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 185 

cases, the same thing may be said of a long series of unjust 
decisions of contested seats in Congress and in every State 
Legislature. And after all no result was changed by the de- 
cisions. 

A much more important matter required to be decided out- 
side the convention proper. The platform of a party is usually 
accepted without discussion upon being reported by the Com- 
mittee on Resolutions. From a party point of view it is ex- 
tremely desirable that it should be so. It is of course a pure 
fiction that a platform expresses the opinions of all members 
of the party which adopts it, even upon the " paramount " 
issues of the day. Multitudes of free silver men voted for 
McKinley in 1896, and other multitudes of gold standard men 
supported Bryan. Nevertheless it is a recognized principle of 
party strategy to construct platforms in such a way as to avoid 
alienating a large body of voters, to employ language just 
strong enough and just vague enough to satisfy both factions 
in cases where there is a division of sentiment, and above all 
to avert the catastrophe of a revelation of division by having 
the controversy brought upon the floor of the convention. 
There was a serious contest in the Denver convention, as there 
had been in the Republican convention at Chicago, over the 
attitude of the party toward injunctions in cases arising out 
of labor disputes. It was confidently announced prior to the 
assembling of the delegates that the platform would follow 
closely the phraseology of the resolutions adopted in March, 
1908, by the Nebraska Democratic State convention, Avhich 
were understood to represent Mr. Bryan's personal views. The 
salient points of the declaration were a demand that in all such 
cases writs of injunction should not issue except after notice to 
the defendants and a hearing ; that trial for contempt might 
be taken by another judge than the one who issued the injunc- 
tion ; and that there should be a trial by jury when the alleged 
contempt was committed not in the presence of the court. Rep- 
resentatives of organized labor were in attendance urging the 
adoption of the foregoing or even stronger language ; and there 
was strenuous opposition. As will be seen the resolution ulti- 
mately agreed upon was quite different in form from the 
Nebraska platform, but all parties expressed themselves as 
satisfied. 

There were few incidents of the convention proceedings that 
call for notice. Mention of the name of Mr. Bryan by Senator 



186 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

Gore, of Oklahoma, was followed by applause which lasted 
eighty-seven minutes, substantially twice as long as the Roose- 
velt demonstration at Chicago, and much the longest cheer 
ever heard in a national convention. The platform committee 
was so long a time engaged in completing its work, that at the 
evening session of Thursday, the 9th, the nominating speeches 
for a candidate for the presidency were made before the plat- 
form was reported.^ Mr. Bryan, Judge Gray, and Governor 
Johnson were placed in nomination. There was another full 
hour of applause when Mr. Bryan was named by Mr. Dunn, 
of Nebraska, who made the nominating speech. 

The Committee on Eesolutions reported at midnight. The 
reading of the platform occupied nearly an hour. The platform 
■was unanimously adopted as follows : — 

We, the representatives of the Democrats of the United States, 
in national convention assembled, reaffirm our belief in, and pledge 
our loyalty to, the principles of the party. 

We rejoice at the increasing signs of an awakening throughout 
the country. The various investigations have traced graft and po- 
litical corruption to the representatives of predatory wealth, and 
laid bare the unscrupulous methods by which they have debauched 
elections and preyed upon a defenceless public through the sub- 
servient officials whom they have raised to place and power. 

The conscience of the nation is now aroused to free the govern- 
ment from the grip of those who have made it a business asset of 
the favor-seeking corporations ; it must become again a people's 
government, and be administered in all its departments according 
to the Jefferson ian maxim, " Equal rights to all and special privi- 
leges to none." 

"Shall the people rule?" is the overshadowing issue which 
manifests itself in all the questions now under discussion. 

The Republican Congress in session just ended has made appro- 
priations amounting to $1,008,000,000, exceeding the total expendi- 
tures of the last fiscal year by $90,000,000, and leaving a deficit of 
more than $60,000,000 for the fiscal year. We denounce the need- 
less waste of the people's money which has resulted in this appal- 
ling increase as a shameful violation of all prudent conditions of 
government, as no less than a crime against the millions of work- 
ing men and women, from whose earnings the great proportion of 
these colossal sums must be extorted through excessive tariff ex- 
actions and other indirect methods. It is not surprising that, in the 

1 Although the official report of the convention, in book form, represents 
that the platform was presented and adopted before the nominating speeches 
were made. 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 187 

face of this shocking record, the Republican platform contains no 
reference to economical administration or promise thereof in the 
future. We demand that a stop be put to this frightful extravag- 
ance, and insist upon the strictest economy in every department 
compatible with frugal and efficient administration. 

Coincident with the enormous increase in expenditures is a like 
addition to the number of officeholders. During the last year 23,784 
were added, costing $16,156,000, and in the last six years of the 
Republican administration the total number of new offices created, 
aside from many commissions, has been 99,319, entailing an ad- 
ditional expenditure of nearly $70,000,000, as against only 10,279 
new offices created under the Cleveland and McKinley administi-a- 
tions, which involved an expenditure of only $6,000,000. We de- 
nounce this great and growing increase in the number of office- 
holders as not only unnecessary and wasteful, but also as clearly 
indicating a deliberate purpose on the part of the Administration 
to keep the Republican party in power at public expense by thus 
increasing the number of its retainers and dependents. Such pro- 
cedure we declare to be no less dangerous and corrupt than the 
open purchase of votes at the polls. 

The House of Representatives was designed by the fathers of the 
Constitution to be the popular branch of our government, respons- 
ive to the public will. 

The House of Representatives, as controlled in recent years by 
the Republican party, has ceased to be a deliberative and execu- 
tive body, responsive to the will of a majority of its members, but 
has come under the absolute domination of the Speaker, who has 
entire control of its deliberations and powers of legislation. 

We have observed with amazement the popular branch of our 
federal government helpless to obtain either the consideration or 
enactment of measures desired by a majority of its members. 

Legislative government becomes a failure when one member, in 
the person of the Speaker, is more powerful than the entire body. 

We demand that the House of Representatives shall again be- 
come a deliberative body, controlled by a majority of the people's 
representatives and not by the Speaker, and we pledge ourselves 
to adopt such rules and regulations to govern the House of Repre- 
sentatives as will enable a majority of its members to direct its 
deliberations and control legislation. 

We condemn as a violation of the spirit of our institutions the 
action of the present Chief Executive in using the patronage of his 
high office to secure the nomination of one of his Cabinet officers. 
A forced succession in the Presidency is scarcely less repugnant to 
public sentiment than is life tenure in that office. No good inten- 
tion on the part of the Executive, and no virtue in the one selected 



188 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

can justify the establishment of a dynasty. The right of the people 
freely to select their officials is inalienable and cannot be delegated. 

We demand federal legislation forever terminating the partner- 
ship which has existed between corporations of the country and 
the Republican party under the expressed or implied agreement 
that in return for the contribution of great sums of money, where- 
with to purchase elections, they should be allowed to continue 
substantially unmolested in their eiforts to encroach upon the 
rights of the people. 

Any reasonable doubt as to the existence of this relation has 
been forever dispelled by the sworn testimony of witnesses ex- 
amined in the insurance investigation in New York and the open 
admission, unchallenged by the Republican National Committee, 
of a single individual that he himself, at the personal request of 
the Republican candidate for the Presidency, raised more than a 
quarter of a million of dollars to be used in a single State during 
the closing hours of the last campaign. In order that this practice 
shall be stopped for all time we demand the passage of a statute 
punishing with imprisonment any officer of a corporation who 
shall either contribute on behalf of or consent to the contribution 
by corporations of any money or thing of value to be used in fur- 
thering the election of a President or Vice-President of the United 
States or of any member of Congress thereof. 

We denounce the Republican party, having complete control of 
the Federal Government, for its failure to pass the bill introduced 
in the last Congress to compel the publication of the names of con- 
tributors and the amounts contributed toward Congress funds, and 
point to the evidence of their insincerity when they sought by an 
absolutely irrelevant and impossible amendment to defeat the pass- 
age of the bill. As a further evidence of their intention to conduct 
their campaign in the coming contest with vast sums of money 
wrested from favor-seeking corporations, we call attention to the 
fact that the recent Republican National Convention at Chicago 
refused, when the plank was presented to it, to declare against such 
practices. 

We pledge the Democratic party to the enactment of a law pre- 
venting any corporation contributing to a campaign fund, and any 
individual from contributing an amount above a reasonable maxi- 
mum, and providing for the publication before election of all such 
contributions. 

Believing, wdth Jefferson, in " the support of the State Govern- 
ments in all their rights as the most competent administration for 
our domestic concerns and the surest bulwark against anti-Repub- 
lican tendencies," and in " the preservation of the general govern- 
ment in its whole constitutipnal vigor as the sheet anchor of pur 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 189 

peace at home and safety, abroad," we are opposed to the central- 
ization implied in the suggestions, now frequently made, that the 
powers of the general government should be extended by judicial 
construction. There is no twilight zone between the Nation and the 
State in which exploiting interests can take refuge from both ; and 
it is as necessary that the Federal Government shall exercise the 
powers delegated to it as it is that the State Governments shall use 
the authority reserved to them, but we insist that Federal reme- 
dies for the regulation of interstate commerce and for the preven- 
tion of private monopoly shall be added to, not substituted for, 
State remedies. 

We welcome the belated promise of tariff reform now affected 
by the Republican party in tardy recognition of the righteousness 
of the Democratic position on this question, but the people cannot 
safely trust the execution of this important work to a party which 
is so deeply obligated to the highly protected interests as is the 
Republican party. We call attention to the significant fact that the 
promised relief was postponed until after the coming election — an 
election to succeed in which the Republican party must have that 
same support from the beneficiaries of the high protective tariff 
as it has always heretofore received from them ; and to the further 
fact that during years of uninterrupted power no action whatever 
has been taken by the Republican Congress to correct the admit- 
tedly existing tariff iniquities. 

We favor immediate revision of the tariff by the reduction of 
import duties. Articles entering into competition with trust con- 
trolled products should be placed upon the free list, and material 
reductions shall be made in the tariff' upon the necessaries of life, 
especially upon articles competing with such American manufac- 
tures as are sold abroad more cheaply than at home, and gradu- 
ated reductions should be made in such other schedules as maybe 
necessary to restore the tariff to a revenue basis. 

Existing duties have given to the manufacturers of paper a 
shelter behind which they have organized combinations to raise 
the price of pulp and of paper, thus imposing a tax upon the spread 
of knowledge. We demand the immediate repeal of the tariff on 
pulp, print paper, lumber, timber and logs, and that these articles 
be placed upon the free list. 

A private monopoly is indefensible and intolerable. AVe there- 
fore favor the vigorous enforcement of the criminal law against 
guilty trust magnates and officials, and demand the enactment of 
such additional legislation as may be necessary to make it impos- 
sible for a private monopoly to exist in the United States. Among 
the additional remedies we specify three : First, a law preventing 
a duplication of directors among competing corporations ; second, 



190 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

a license system which will, without abridging the right of each 
State to create corporations or its right to regulate as it will for- 
eign corporations doing business within its limits, make it neces- 
sary for a manufacturing or trading corporation engaged in inter- 
state commerce to take out a Federal license before it shall be 
permitted to control as much as 25 per cent, of the product in 
■which it deals, a license to protect the public from watered stock, 
and to prohibit the control by such corporation of more than 50 
per cent, of the total amount of any product consumed in the 
United States ; and, third, a law compelling such licensed corpo- 
rations to sell to all purchasers in all parts of the country on the 
same terms after making due allowance for cost of transportation. 

We assert the right of Congress to exercise complete control over 
interstate commerce and the right of each State to exercise like 
control over commerce within its borders. 

We demand such enlargement of the powers of the Interstate 
Commerce Commission as may be necessary to enable it to com- 
pel railroads to perform their duties as common carriers and pre- 
vent discrimination and extortion. 

We favor the efficient supervision and rate regulation of rail- 
roads engaged in interstate commerce ; to this end we recommend 
the valuation of railroads by the Interstate Commerce Commis- 
sion, such valuation to take into consideration the physical value 
of the property, the original cost of production, and all elements of 
value that will render the valuation fair and just. 

We favor such legislation as will prohibit the railroads from 
engaging in business which brings them into competition with 
their shippers ; also legislation which will assure such reduction in 
transportation rates as conditions will permit, care being taken to 
avoid reduction that would compel a reduction of wages, prevent 
adequate service, or do justice to legitimate investments. 

We heartily approve the laws prohibiting the pass and the rebate, 
and we favor any further legislation to restrain, correct and pre- 
vent such abuses. 

We favor such legislation as will increase the power of the 
Interstate Commerce Commission, giving to it the initiative with 
reference to rates and transportation charges put into effect by the 
railroad companies, and permitting the Interstate Commerce Com- 
mission, on its own initiative, to declare a rate illegal and as being 
more than should be charged for such service ; that the present law 
relating thereto is inadequate by reason of the fact that the Inter- 
state Commerce Commission is without power to fix or investigate 
a rate until complaint has been made to it by the shipper. 

We further declare that all agreements of traffic or other associ- 
ations of railway agents affecting interstate rates, service, or classi- 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 191 

fication shall be unlawful unless filed with and approved by the 
Interstate Commerce Commission. 

We favor the enactment of a law giving to the Interstate Com- 
merce Commission the power to inspect pi-oposed railroad tariff 
rates or schedules before they shall take effect, and if they be found 
to be unreasonable to initiate an adjustment thereof. 

The panic of 1907, coming without any legitimate excuse, when 
the Republican party had for a decade been in complete control of 
the federal government, furnishes additional proof that it is either 
unwilling or incompetent to protect the interests of the general 
public. It has so linked the country to Wall Street that the sins of 
the speculators are visited upon the whole people. While refusing 
to rescue wealth producers from spoliation at the hands of the 
stock gamblers and speculators in farm products, it has deposited 
Treasury funds, without interest and without competition, in fav- 
orite banks. It has used an emergency for which it is largely re- 
sponsible to force through Congress a bill changing the basis of 
bank currency and inviting market manipulation, and has failed 
to give to the 1.5,000,000 depositors of the country protection in 
their savings. 

We believe that in so far as the needs of commerce require an 
emergency currency such currency should be issued, controlled by 
the federal government, and loaned on adequate security to national 
and state banks. We pledge ourselves to legislation under which 
the national banks shall be required to establish a guarantee fund 
for the prompt payment of the depositors of any insolvent national 
bank under an equitable system which shall be available to all state 
banking institutions which wish to use it. 

We favor a postal savings bank if the guaranteed bank cannot 
be secured, and that it be constituted so as to keep the deposited 
money in the communities where it is established. But we condemn 
the policy of the Republican party in proposing postal savings 
banks under a plan of conduct by which they will aggregate the 
deposits of rural communities and redeposit the same while under 
government charge in the banks of Wall Street, thus depleting the 
circulating medium of the producing regions and unjustly favoring 
the speculative markets. 

We favor an income tax as part of our revenue system, and we 
urge the submission of a constitutional amendment specifically 
authorizing Congress to levy and collect a tax upon individual and 
corporate incomes, to the end that wealth may bear its proportion- 
ate share of the burdens of the Federal Government. 

The courts of justice are the bulwark of our liberties, and we 
yield to none in our purpose to maintain their dignity. Our party 
has given to the bench a long line of distinguished judges, who 



192 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

have added to the respect and confidence in which this department 
must be jealously maintained. We resent the attempt of the Re- 
publican party to raise issues respecting the judiciary. It is an un- 
just reflection upon a great body of our citizens to assume that they 
lack respect for the courts. 

It is the function of the courts to interpret the laws which the 
people create, and if the laws appear to work economic, social, or 
political injustice, it is our duty to change them. The only basis 
upon which the integrity of our courts can stand is that of unswerv- 
ing justice and protection of life, personal liberty, and property. If 
judicial processes may be abused, we should guard them against 
abuse. 

Experience has proved the necessity of a modification of the 
present law relating to injunctions, and we reiterate the pledge of 
our national platforms of 1896 and 1904 in favor of the measure 
which passed the United States Senate in 1896, but which a Re- 
publican Congress has ever since refused to enact, relating to con- 
tempts in federal courts and providing for trial by jury in cases of 
indirect contempt. 

Questions of judicial practice have arisen, especially in connection 
with industrial disputes. We deem that the parties to all judicial 
proceedings should be treated with rigid impartiality, and that in- 
junctions should not be issued in any cases in which injunctions 
would not issue if no industrial dispute were involved. 

The expanding organization of industry makes it essential that 
there should be no abridgement of the right of wage-earners and 
producers to organize for the protection of wages and the improve- 
ment of labor conditions, to the end that such labor organizations 
and their members should not be regarded as illegal combinations 
in restraint of trade. 

We favor the eight-hour day on all government work. 

We pledge the Democratic party to the enactment of a law by 
Congress, as far as the federal jurisdiction extends, for a general 
employers' liability act, covering injury to body or loss of life of 
employes. 

We pledge the Democratic party to the enactment of a law creat- 
ing a Department of Labor, represented separately in the Presid- 
ent's Cabinet, which department shall include the subject of mines 
and mining. 

We believe in the upbuilding of the American and merchant 
marine without new or additional burdens upon the people and 
without bounties from the public Treasury. 

The constitutional provision that a navy shall be provided and 
maintained means an adequate navy, and we believe that the in- 
terests of this country would be best served by having a navy suffi- 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 193 

cieat to defend the coasts of this country, and protect American 
citizens wherever their rights may be in jeopardy. 

We pledge ourselves to insist upon the just and lawful protection 
of our citizens at home and abroad, and to use all proper methods 
to secure for them, whether native born or naturalized, and with- 
out distinction of race or creed, the equal protection of law and the 
enjoyment of all rights and privileges open to them under our 
treaty ; and if, under existing treaties, the right of travel and so- 
journ is denied to American citizens, or recognition is withheld 
from American passports by any countries on the ground of race or 
creed, we favor prompt negotiations with the governments of such 
countries to secure the removal of these unjust discriminations. 

We demand that all over the world a duly authorized passport 
issued by the government of the United States to an American 
citizen shall be proof of the fact that he is an American citizen 
and shall entitle him to the treatment due him as such. 

The laws pertaining to the Civil Service should be honestly and 
rigidly enforced to the end that merit and ability shall be the 
standard of appointment and promotion rather than services 
rendered to a political party. 

We favor a generous pension policy, both as a matter of justice 
to the surviving veterans and their dependents, and because it 
tends to relieve the country of the necessity of maintaining a large 
standing army. 

We advocate the organization of all existing national public 
health agencies into a national bureau of public health, with such 
power over sanitary conditions connected with factories, mines, 
tenements, child labor, and such other subjects as are properly 
within the jurisdiction of the Federal Government and do not 
intei-fere with tlie power of the states controlling public health 
agencies. 

The Demoeratic party favors the extension of agricultural, me- 
chanical, and industrial education. We therefore favor the estab- 
lishment of district agricultural experiment stations, the secondary 
agricultural and mechanical colleges in the several states. 

We favor the election of United States senators by direct vote 
of the people, and regard this reform as the gateway to other 
national reforms. 

We welcome Oklahoma to the sisterhood of states, and heartily 
congratulate her (OB the auspicious beginning of a great career. 

We believe that the Panama Canal will prove of great value to 
our country, -and favor its speedy completion. 

The national Democratic party has for the last sixteen years 
labored for the admission of Arizona and New INIexico as separate 
States of the Federal Union^ and recognizing that each possesses 



194 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

every qualification to successfully maintain separate State govern- 
ments, we favor the immediate admission of these Territories as 
separate States. 

The establishment of rules and regulations, if any such are 
necessary, in relation to free grazing upon the public lands outside 
of forest or other reservations until the same shall eventually be 
disposed of should be left to the people of the States respectively 
in which such lands may be situated. 

Water furnishes the cheapest means of transportation, and the 
National Government, having the control of navigable waters, 
should improve them to their fullest capacity. We earnestly favor 
the immediate adoption of a liberal and comprehensive plan for 
improvmg every watercourse in the Union which is justified by the 
needs of commerce, and to secure that end we favor, when practi- 
cable, the connection of the Great Lakes with the navigable rivers 
and with the Gulf through the Mississippi River, and the navi- 
gable rivers with each other, and the rivers, bays, and sounds of 
our coasts with each other by artificial canals, with a view to per- 
fecting a system of inland waterways, to be navigated by vessels of 
standard draught. 

We favor the coordination of the various services of the Gov- 
ernment connected with waterways in one service, for the purpose 
of aiding in the completion of such a system of inland waterways ; 
and we favor the creation of a fund ample for continuous work, 
which shall be conducted under the direction of a commission of 
experts to be authorized by law. 

We favor Federal aid to State and local authorities in the con- 
struction and maintenance of post roads. 

We pledge the Democratic party to the enactment of a law to 
regulate, under the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Com- 
mission, the rates and services of telegraph and telephone com- 
panies engaged in the transmission of messages between the 
States. 

We repeat the demand for internal development and for the 
conservation of our natural resources contained in previous plat- 
forms, the enforcement of which Mr. Roosevelt has vainly sought 
from a reluctant party, and to that end we insist upon the pre- 
servation, protection, and replacement of needed forests, the pre- 
servation of the public domain for homeseekers, the protection of 
the national resources in timber, coal, iron, and oil against mon- 
opolistic control ; the development of our waterways for naviga- 
tion and every other useful purpose, including the irrigation of 
arid lands, the reclamation of swamp lands, the clarification of 
streams, the development of water power and the preservation 
of electric power generated by this natural force from the control 



THE ERA OF " PROGRESSIVE " INSURGENCY 195 

of monopoly ; and to such end we urge the exercise of all powers, 
national, State, and municipal, both separately and in coopera- 
tion. 

We insist upon a policy of administration of our forest reserve 
which shall relieve it of the abuses which have arisen thereunder, 
and which shall, as far as practicable, conform to the police regula- 
tions of the several States where they are located, which shall 
enable homesteaders as of right to occupy and acquire title to all 
portions thereof which are especially adapted to agriculture, and 
which shall furnish a system of timber sales available as well to 
the private citizen as to the larger manufacturer and consumer. 

We favor the application of principles of land laws of the United 
States to our newly acquired territory, Hawaii, to the end that the 
public lands of that territory may be held and utilized for the 
benefit of bona-fide homesteaders. 

We condemn the experiment in imperialism as an inexcusable 
blunder which has involved us in enormous expense, brought us 
weakness instead of strength, and laid our nation open to the 
charge of abandoning a fundamental doctrine of self-government. 
We favor an immediate declaration of the nation's purpose to re- 
cognize the independence of the Philippine Islands as soon as a 
stable government can be established, such independence to be 
guaranteed by us as we guarantee the independence of Cuba, until 
the neutralization of the islands can be secured by treaty with 
other powers. In recognizing the independence of the Philippines 
our government should retain such land as may be necessary for 
coaling stations and naval bases. 

We demand for the people of Alaska and Porto Rico the full 
enjoyment of the rights and privileges of a territorial form of gov- 
ernment. The officials appointed to administer the government of 
all our territories and the District of Columbia should be thor- 
oughly qualified by previous bona-fide residence. 

The Democratic party recognizes the importance and advantage 
of developing closer ties of Pan-American friendship and com- 
merce between the United States and her sister nations of Latin 
America, and favors the taking of such steps, consistent with 
Democratic policies, for better acquaintance, greater mutual con- 
fidence, and larger exchange of trade, as will bring lasting benefit 
not only to the United States, but to this group of American 
Republics, having constitutions, forms of government, ambitions 
and interests akin to our own. 

We favor full protection, by both national and State govern- 
ments, within their respective spheres, of all foreigners residing in 
the Uoited States under treaty, but we are opposed to the admis- 
sion of Asiatic .immigrants who cannot be amalgated with our 



196 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

population, or whose presence among us would raise a race issue 
and involve us in diplomatic controversies with Oriental powers. 

We believe that where an American citizen holding a patent in 
a foreign country is compelled to manufacture under his patent 
within a certain time similar restrictions should be applied in this 
country to the citizens or subjects of such a country. 

The Democratic party stands for democracy ; the Republican has 
drawn to itself all that is aristocratic and plutocratic. 

The Democratic party is the champion of civil rights and oppor- 
tunities to all ; the Republican party is the party of privileges and 
private monopoly. The Democratic party listens to the voice of 
the whole people and gauges progress by the prosperity and ad- 
vancement of the average man : the Republican party is subservi- 
ent to the comparatively few who are the beneficiaries of govern- 
mental favoritism. We invite the cooperation of all, regardless of 
previous political affiliation or past differences, who desire to pre- 
serve a government of the people by the people and for the people, 
and who favor such an administration of the government as will 
insure, as far as human wisdom can, that each citizen shall draw 
from society a reward commensurate with his contribution to the 
welfare of society. 

The platform having been adopted unanimously without dis- 
cussion, a further resolution was moved from the floor, and 
adopted, urging an appropriate celebration of the one hundredth 
anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, on February 12, 
1909. The convention then proceeded to make nomination of 
candidates for the offices of President and Vice-President of the 
United States. The vote on the nomination of a candidate for 
President was as follows : — 

Whole number of votes ^ 994 

Necessary for a choice (two thirds) ...... 666 

William J. Bryan, of Nebraska 888^ 

George Gray, of Delaware 59^ 

John A. Johnson, of Minnesota 46 

The nomination of Mr. Bryan was then made unanimous, 
and the convention adjourned — at a quarter before four o'clock 
in the morning, after a continuous session of nearly nine hours. 

The business was concluded in the afternoon of the same day, 
Friday the 10th. Nominating speeches for a candidate for Vice- 
President were made in favor of John W. Kern, of Indiana, 
Charles A. Towne, of New York, Archibald McNeil, of Con- 
1 Eight delegates not voting. 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 197 

necticut, and Clark Howell, of Georgia. All tlie names except 
that of Mr. Kern were subsequently withdrawn, and he was 
nominated by acclamation. 

The convention of the Prohibition party was held at Colum- 
bus, beginning on July 15. Robert E. Patton, of Illinois, was 
the temporary chairman, and Charles Scanlon, of Pennsylvania, 
the permanent president. Thirty-seven States were represented 
by 1126 delegates. 

The proceedings were enlivened only by a somewhat ani- 
mated controversy among the delegates whether or not woman 
suffrage should be explicitly advocated, — the outcome of which 
may be seen in the thirteenth plank of the platform, — and by 
the canvassing for a multiplicity of candidates for the head of 
the ticket. The platform, which is of almost unexampled brev- 
ity, was as follows : — 

The Prohibition party of the United States, assembled in con- 
vention at Columbus, Ohio, July 15-16, 1908, expressing gratitude 
to Almighty God for the victories of our principles in the past, for 
encouragement at present, and for confidence in early and tri- 
umphant success in the future, makes the following declaration of 
principles, and pledges their enactment into law when placed in 
power : — 

1. The submission by Congress to the several States, of an 
amendment to the Federal constitution prohibiting the manufac- 
ture, sale, importation, exportation, or transportation of alcoholic 
liquors for beverage purposes. 

2. The immediate prohibition of the liquor traffic for beverage 
purposes in the District of Columbia, in the Territories, and all 
places over which the National Government has jurisdiction ; the 
repeal of the internal revenue tax on alcoholic liquors and the 
prohibition of interstate traffic therein. 

3. The election of United States Senators by direct vote of the 
people. 

4. Equitable graduated income and inheritance taxes. 

5. The establishment of postal savings banks and the guaranty 
of deposits in banks. 

6. The regulation of all corporations doing an interstate com- 
merce business. 

7. The creation of a permanent tariff commission. 

8. The strict enforcement of law instead of official tolerance and 
practical license of the social evil which prevails in many of our 
cities, with its unspeakable traffic in girls. 

9. Uniform marriage and divorce laws. 



198 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

10. An equitable and constitutional employers' liability act. 

11. Court review of Post-Office Department decisions. 

12. The prohibition of child labor in mines, workshops, and 
factories. 

13. Legislation basing suffrage only upon intelligence and ability 
to read and write the English language. 

14. The preservation of the mineral and forest resources of the 
country, and the improvement of tlie highways and waterways. 

Believing in the righteousness of our cause and the final triumph 
of our principles, and convinced of the unwillingness of the Re- 
publican and Democratic parties to deal with these issues, we 
invite to full party fellowship all citizens who are with us agreed. 

Three trials were necessary to effect the nomination of a 
caadidate for President. They resulted as follows : — 

1st 2d 3d 

Eugene W. Chafin, of Illinois . . 193 226 636 

William B. Patmore, of Missouri . 273 418 415 

Joseph P. Tracy, of Michigan . . 161 81 7 

Alfred L. Maniere, of New York . 1.59 121 4 

Daniel R. Sheen, of Illinois ... 134 157 12 

Frederick F. Wheeler, of California 72 37 

Oliver W. Stewart, of Illinois ... 61 47 
J. B. Cranfill, of Texas .... 28 

G. R. Stewart, of Vermont ... 1 - - 

Charles Scanlon, of Pennsylvania .1 - - 

Whole number of votes .... 1083 1087 1074 
Necessary to a choice 542 544 538 

The nomination of Mr. Chafin was made unanimous. The 
convention then proceeded to nominate for Vice-President, by 
acclamation, the Rev. William B. Patmore, of Missouri, who had 
led the field as a candidate for the presidency on the first and 
second votes and was Mr. Chafin's only strong competitor on 
the third. But Mr. Patmore declined the nomination. At this 
point there was much, confusion and a '' parliamentary tangle " ; 
and many of the delegates had already left the hall when the 
vote was taken for a candidate. The result was : — 

.Whole number of votes 702 

Necessary to a choice 352 

Aaron S. Watkins, of Ohio 535 

T. B. Demaree, of Kentucky 126 

Charles F. Holler, of Indiana 41 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 199 

The nomination of Mr. Watkins was made unanimous. Both 
the candidates were also candidates of their party for Governor 
in their respective States. 

The last national convention of the canvass was that of the 
Independence party — the outgrowth of Mr. Hearst's Inde- 
pendence League. It was held at Chicago, beginning on July 
27. William K. Hearst, of New York, was the temporary 
chairman, and Charles A. Walsh, of Iowa, the permanent 
president. The number of States represented was not published, 
but on the final vote for a candidate for President, the number 
voting was 948. 

The only incident of the convention that needs to be men- 
tioned is the angry and even personally hostile treatment visited 
tipon a delegate from Nebraska, who endeavored to present the 
name of Mr. Bryan as a candidate for nomination by the con- 
vention. 

The platform adopted was as follows : — 

We, independ»nt American citizens, representing the Independ- 
ence party in forty-four states and two territories, have met in 
national convention to nominate, absolutely independent of all 
other political parties, candidates for President and Vice-President 
of the United States. Our action is based upon a determination to 
wrest the conduct of public affairs from the hands of selfish inter- 
ests, political tricksters, and corrupt bosses, and make the govern- 
ment, as the founders intended, an agency for tlie common good. 

At a period of unexampled national prosperity and promise a 
staggering blow was dealt to legitimate business by the unmolested 
practice of stock watering and dishonest financiering. Multitudes 
of defenceless investors, thousands of honest business men, and an 
army of idle workingmen are paying the penalty. Year by year, 
fostered by reckless governmental extravagance, by the manipula- 
tion of trusts, and by a privilege creating tariff, the cost of living 
mounts higher and higher. Day by day the control of the govern- 
ment drifts further away from the people and more firmly into 
the grip of machine politicians and party bosses. 

Tlie Republican and Democratic parties are not only responsible 
for these conditions, but are committed to their indefinite contin- 
uance. Prodigal of promises, they are so barren of performance 
that to a new party of independent voters the country must look 
for the establishment of a new policy and a return to genuine 
popular government. 

Our object is not to introduce violent innovations or startlingly 
new features. We of the Independence party look back as Lincoln 



200 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

did to the Declaration of Independence as the fountain head of all 
political inspiration. It is not our purpose to attempt to revolution- 
ize the American system of government, but to restore the action 
of the government to the principles of Washington and Jefferson 
and Lincoln. It is not our purpose, either, to effect a radical change 
in the American system of government, but to conserve for the 
citizens of the United States their privileges and liberties, won for 
them by the founders of this government, and to perpetuate the 
principles and policies upon which the nation's greatness has been 
built. 

The Independence party is, therefore, a conservative force in 
American politics, devoted to the preservation of American liberty 
and independence, to honesty in elections, to opportunity in busi- 
ness, and to equality before the law. 

Those who believe in the Independence party and work with it 
are convinced that a genuine democracy should exist; that a true 
republican form of government should continue ; that the power 
of government should rest with the majority of the peojile, and 
that the government should be conducted for the benefit of tlie 
whole citizenship rather than for the special advantage of any 
particular class. 

As of first importance in order to restore the power of govern- 
ijient to the people, to make their will supi-eme in the primaries, 
in the elections, and in the control of public officials after they 
have been elected, we declare for direct nominations, the initiative 
and referendum, and the right of recall. It is idle to cry out against 
the evil of bossism wliile we perpetuate a system under which the 
boss is inevitable. The destruction of the individual boss is of lit- 
tle value. The people in their politics must establish a system 
which will eliminate not only an objectionable boss, but the sys- 
tem of bossism. Representative government is made a mockery by 
the system of modern party conventions dominated by the bosses 
and controlled by cliques. We demand the natui'al remedy of direct 
nominations by which the people not only elect, but — which is far 
more important — select tlieir representatives. 

We believe in the principle of the initiative and referendum, and 
we particularly demand that no franchise grant go into operation 
until the terms and conditions have been approved by popular 
vote in the locality interested. 

We demand for tlie people the right to recall public officials 
from the public service. The power to make officials resides in the 
people, and in them also should reside the power to unmake and 
remove from office any official who demonstrates his unfitness or 
betrays the public trust. 

Of next importance in destroying the power of selfish special 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 201 

interests and the corrnpt political bosses wliom they control is to 
wrest from their hands their main weapon, the corrnption fund. 
We demand severe and effective legislation against all forms of 
corrupt practices at elections, and advocate prohibiting the use 
of any money at elections except for meetings, literature, and the 
necessary travelling expenses of the candidates. Bidding for votes 
the Republican and Democratic candidates are making an outcry 
about publicity of contributions, although both the Republican 
and Democratic parties have for years consistently blocked every 
effort to pass a corrupt practices act. Publicity of contributions is 
desirable and should be required, but the main matter of import- 
ance is the use to which contributions are put. We believe that the 
dishonest use of money in the past, whether contributed by indi- 
viduals or by corporations, has been chiefly responsible for the 
corruption which has undermined our system of popular govern- 
ment. 

We demand honest conduct of public office and business alike, 
and of economical administration of public affairs, and we con- 
demn the gross extravagance of federal administration and its 
appalling annual increase in appropriations. Unnecessary appro- 
priations mean unnecessary taxes, and unnecessary taxes, whether 
direct or indirect, are paid by the people, and add to the ever in- 
creasing cost of living. 

We condemn the evil of overcapitalization. Modern industrial 
conditions make the corporation and stock company a necessity, 
but overcapitalization in corporations is as harmful and criminal 
as is personal dishonesty in an individual. 

Compelling the payment of dividends upon great sums that have 
never been invested, upon masses of watered stock not justified by 
the property, overcapitalization prevents the better wages, the bet- 
ter public service, and the lower cost that should result from Ameri- 
can inventive genius and that wide organization which is replacing 
costly iiulividnal competition. The collapse of dishonestly inflated 
enterprises robs investors, closes banks, destroys confidence, and 
engenders panics. The Independence party advocates as a primary 
necessity for sounder business conditions and improved public 
service the enactment of laws, state and national, to prevent water- 
ing of stock, dishonest issue of bonds, and other forms of corpora- 
tion frauds. 

AVe denounce the so-called labor plaidcs of the Republican and 
Democratic platforms as political buncombe and contemptible 
claptrap, unworthy of national parties claiming to be serious and 
sincere. 

The Republican declaration that injunction or temporary or re- 
straining order should not be issued without notice, except where 



202 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

irreparable injury would result from delay, is empty verbiage, for 
a showing of irreparable injury can always be made, and is always 
made, in ex parte affidavits. 

The Democratic declaration that "injunctions should not be 
issued in any case in which injunctions should not issue if no in- 
dustrial dispute were involved " is meaningless and worthless. 

Such insincere and meaningless declarations place a low esti- 
mate upon the intelligence of the average American workingman, 
and exhibit either ignorance of or indifference to the real interest 
of labor. 

The Independence party condemns the arbitrary use of the writ 
of injunction and contempt proceedings as a violation of the funda- 
mental American right of trial by jury. 

From the foundation of our Government down to 1872 the Fed- 
eral Judiciary act prohibited the issue of any injunction without 
reasonable notice until after a hearing. We assert that in all actions 
growing out of a dispute between employers and employes con- 
cerning terms or conditions of employment no injunction should 
issue until after a trial upon the merits, that such trial should be 
held before a jury, and that in no case of alleged contempt should 
any person be deprived of liberty without a trial by jury. 

The Independence party believes that the distribution of wealth 
is as important as the creation of wealth, and indorses these organ- 
izations among farmers and workers which tend to bring about a 
just distribution of wealth through good wages for workers and 
good prices for farmers, and which protect the employer and the 
consumer through equality of price for labor and for product, and 
we favor such legislation as will remove them from the operation 
of the Sherman anti-trust law. 

We indorse the eight-hour work day, favor its application to all 
Government employes, and demand the enactment of laws requir- 
ing that all work done for the Government, whether Federal or 
State, and whether done directly or indirectly through contractors 
or sub-contractors shall be done on an eight-hour basis. 

We favor the enactment of a law defining as illegal any com- 
bination or conspiracy to black-list employes. 

We demand protection for workmen through enforced use of 
standard safety appliances and provisions of hygienic conditions 
in the operation of factories, railways, mills, mines, and all indus- 
trial undertakings. 

We advocate State and Federal inspection of railways to secure 
a greater safety for railway employes and for the travelling pub- 
lic. We call for the enactment of stringent laws fixing employers' 
liabilities, and a rigid prohibition of child labor through coopera- 
tion between the State governments and the National Government- 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 20l3 

We condemn the manufacture and sale of prison-made goods in 
the open market in competition with free labor manufactured goods. 
We demand that convicts shall be employed direct by the different 
States in the manufacture of products for use in State institutions 
and in making good roads, and in no case shall convicts be hired 
out to contractors or sub-contractors. 

We favor the creation of a Department of Labor, including 
mines and mining, the head of which shall be a member of the 
President's Cabinet. 

The great abuses of grain inspection, by which the producers 
are plundered, demand immediate and vigorous correction. To 
that end we favor Federal inspection under a strict civil service 
law. 

The Independence party declares that the right to issue money 
is inherent in the Government, and it favors the establishment of 
a central governmental bank, through which the money so issued 
shall be put into general circulation. 

We demand a revision of the tariff, not by the friends of the 
tariff, but by the friends of the people, and declare for a gradual 
reduction of tariff duties, with just consideration for the rights of 
the consuming public and of established industry. There should 
be no protection for oppressive trusts which sell cheaply abroad 
and take advantage of the tariff at home to crush competition, 
raise prices, control production, and limit work and wages. 

The railroads must be kept open to all upon exactly equal terms. 
Every form of rebate and discrimination in railroad rates is a 
crime against business and must be stamped out. We demand 
adequate railroad facilities and advocate a bill empowering ship- 
pers in time of need to compel railroads to provide sufficient cars 
for freight and passenger traffic and other railroad facilities through 
summary appeal to the courts. We favor the creation of an Inter- 
state Commerce Court, whose sole function it shall be to review 
speedily and enforce summarily the orders of the Interstate Com- 
merce Commission. The Interstate Commerce Commission has the 
power to initiate investigation into the reasonableness of rates 
and practices, and no increase in rates should be put into effect 
until opportunity for such investigation is afforded. The Interstate 
Commerce Commission should proceed at once with a physical 
valuation of railroads engaged in interstate commerce. 

We believe that legitimate organizations in business designed to 
secure an economy of operation and increased production are bene- 
ficial wherever the public participates in the advantages which re- 
sult. We denounce all combinations for restraint of trade and for 
the establishment of monopoly in all products of labor, and de- 
clare that such combinations are not combinations for production, 



204 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

but for extortion, and that activity in this direction is not indus- 
try, but robbery. 

In cases of infractions of the Anti-Ti'ust law or of the Interstate 
Commerce act, we believe in the enforcement of a prison penalty 
against the guilty and responsible individuals controlling the 
management of the offending corporations, rather than a fine 
imposed upon stockholders. 

We advocate the extension of the principle of public ownership 
of public utilities, including railroads, as rapidly as municipal, 
State, or National Government shall demonstrate ability to con- 
duct public utilities for the public benefit. We favor specifically 
government ownership of the telegraphs, such as prevails in every 
other civilized country in the world, and demand as an immediate 
measure that the Government shall purchase and operate the tele- 
graphs in connection with the postal service. 

The parcels post system should be rapidly and widely extended, 
and government postal savings banks should be established where 
the people's deposits will be secure, the money to be loaned to the 
people in the locality of the several banks at a rate of interest to 
be fixed by the government. 

We favor the immediate development of a national system of 
good roads connecting all states, and national aid to states in the 
construction and maintenance of post roads. 

We favor a court of review of the censorship and arbitrary rul- 
ings of the Post-Office Department. 

We favor the admission of Arizona and New Mexico to separate 
statehood. 

We advocate such legislation, both state and national, as will 
suppress the bucket shop and prohibit the fictitious selling of farm 
products for future delivery. 

We favor the creation of a national department of public health, 
to be presided over by a member of the medical profession, this 
department to exercise such authority over matters of public 
health, hygiene, and sanitation which come properly within the 
jurisdiction of the national government as does not interfere with 
the rights of states or municipalities. 

We oppose Asiatic immigration, which does not amalgamate 
with our population, creates race issues and un-American condi- 
tions, and which reduces wages and tends to lower the high stand- 
ard of living and the high standard of morality which American 
civilization has established. 

We demand the passage of an exclusion act which shall protect 
American workingmen from competition with Asiatic cheap labor 
and which shall protect American civilization from the contam- 
ination of Asiatic conditions. 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 205 

Tlie Independence party declares for peace and against aggres- 
sion, and will promote the movement for the settlement of inter- 
national disputes by arbitration. 

We believe, however, that a small navy is poor economy, and 
that a strong navy is the best protection in time of war and the 
best preventive of war. We therefore favor the speedy building of 
a navy sufficiently strong to protect at the same time both the 
Atlantic and Pacific Coasts of the United States. 

We rejoice in the adoption by both the Democratic and Repub- 
lican platforms of the demand of the Independence party for im- 
proved national waterways and the Mississippi inland deep-waters 
jjroject, to complete a ship canal from the Gulf to the Great Lakes. 
We favor the extension of this system to the tributaries of the 
Mississippi, by means of which thirty states shall be served and 
20,000 miles added to the coast line of the United States. The re- 
clamation of arid land should be continued and the irrigation 
programme now contemplated by the government extended and 
steps taken for the conservation of the country's natural resources, 
which should b'fe guarded not only against devastation and waste, 
but against falling into the control of the monopoly. 

The abuses growing out of the administration of our forest pre- 
serves must be corrected, and provisions should be made for free 
grazing from public lands outside of forest or other reservations. 
In behalf of the people residing in arid portions of our Western 
states we protest vigorously against the policy of the federal gov- 
ernment in selling the exclusive "use of water and electric power 
derived from public works to private corporations, thus creating a 
monopoly and subjecting citizens living in those sections to exor- 
bitant charges for light and jjower, and diverting enterprises orig- 
inally started for public benefit into channels for corporate greed 
and oppression, and we demand that no more exclusive contracts 
be made. 

American citizens abroad, whether native born or naturalized, 
and of whatever race or creed, must be secured in the enjoyment 
of all rights and privileges under our treaties, and wherever such 
rights are withheld by any country on the ground of race or reli- 
gious faith, stejis should be taken to secure the removal of such 
unjust discrimination. 

We advocate the popular election of United States Senators, 
and of judges, both state and federal, and favor a graduated in- 
come tax and any constitutional amendment necessary to these 
ends. 

Equality of opportvmity, the largest measure of individual lib- 
erty consistent with equal rights ; the overthrow of the rule of 
special interest and the restoration of government by the majority 



1st 


Sd 


3d 


391 


590 


831 


213 


189 


77 


200 


109 


38 


71 


— 


— 


49 


49 


2 


924 


937 


948 


617 


624 


632 



206 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

exercised for the benefit of the whole community ; these are the 
purposes to which the Independence party is pledged, and we in- 
vite the cooperation of all patriots and progressive citizens, ir- 
respective of party, who are in sympathy with these principles 
and in favor of their practical enforcement. 

The nomination of a candidate for President was effected only 
on the third trial. The result on each vote was as follows : — 



Thomas L. Hisgen, of Massachusetts 
John T. Graves, of Georgia . . 
Milford W. Howard, of Alabama 
Reuben R. Lyon, of New York . 
William R. Hearst, of New York 
Whole number of votes . . . 
Necessary to a choice (two thirds) 

The customary vote to make the nomination of Mr. Hisgen 
unanimous was adopted. John Temple Graves, of Georgia, was 
nominated for Vice-President by acclamation. 

Official and ceremonial notification of nominations has be- 
come a prominent feature of every presidential canvass. It is 
not technically the opening of the campaign, but is made the 
occasion of great popular demonstrations and enables candidates 
to sound a "keynote." Mr. Taft was informed of his nomina- 
tion at Cincinnati, on July 28 ; Mr. Bryan, at his home in 
Lincoln, on August 12 ; Mr. Hisgen, in New York City, on 
Aiigust 31. Later came the notifications to the candidates for 
Vice-President, — Mr. Sherman, at Utica, Mr. Kern, at Indian- 
apolis, and Mr. Graves, at Atlanta. There were great throngs 
of people at all these ceremonies. In some cases the attempt 
was made, with a certain amount of success, to make the occa- 
sion non-partisan. 

Both Mr. Taft and Mr. Bryan intended originally not to make 
any political tours. It was announced at first that Mr. Bryan 
would conduct a " front porch " campaign, that he would stay 
at home and make speeches to such friends and supporters as 
might call upon him there. Mr. Taft, who made a long stay at 
Hot Springs, Virginia, caused it to be known that i;nder no 
circumstances would he journey over the country on a stump- 
ing tour. Both of them changed their plans. Moreover, Mr. 
Hisgen and Mr. Chafin were seen on the stump in many States. 
Mr. Bryan was first in the field. He started on the 20th of 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 207 

August on a seven-days' trip and spoke at many points in In- 
diana, Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas. On the 30th he began another 
tour which took him as far as Minnesota and the Dakotas. He 
made a third, much longer trip, beginning September 6, and 
before his return had spoken in States so far apart as Rhode 
Island and Colorado. The closing weeks of the canvass found 
him in the East, devoting much attention to New York, New 
Jersey, and Ohio. 

Mr. Taft made his first political speech at Hot Springs, on 
August 21, and although he spoke a few times later in the 
month and early in September at various places in Ohio, did 
not enter upon an extended tour until September 23. From 
that time until the day of election he was almost constantly 
travelling and addressing rallies of his supporters. His itinerary 
carried him all over tlie Middle West, and he also visited 
Colorado, AVyoming, and the Dakotas, Missouri, and Nebraska. 
Toward the end of the campaign he was in the East, and spoke 
in several of the "border" States, Kentucky, West Virginia, 
Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina. Like Mr. Bryan he 
closed the campaign in New York and Ohio. 

There was the usual optimism on both sides regarding the 
result. Vermont held its State election on September 1, and 
registered a little less — some two thousand — than the usual 
Republican majority, a result which gave the Democrats some 
encouragement. A week later Maine followed with a large re- 
duction. The Republican plurality was but a little more than 
8000, which was less than half the customary plurality. The 
Republicans explained that local conditions and local questions 
were answerable for the decline, and the assertion was true, but 
the Democrats believed that it presaged victory for them. But 
aside from the managers of the campaign, and those whom they 
could inspire with hopefulness, the belief that Mr. Taft waa 
to be elected was general. 

The election took place on November 3, and resulted in a 
Republican victory. The popular and electoral vote is shown 
in the accompanying table. 

An analysis of the vote will reveal several points worthy 
of notice. The aggregate vote increased over that at the elec- 
tion of 1904 almost exactly ten per cent, — 1,362,881, — but 
it increased less than seven per cent over the enormous vote 
of 1896. But in the sixteen Southern States — from all the 
analyses Oklahoma is omitted, as it did not participate in any 



208 



A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 





Popular Vote 


Electo- 
ral Vote 




a 




a 


-o 


o 


.5 


0) 


B 




States 


C3 


a 

Mi 
c o 

y 




o 
1 

c3'o 
a, O 


§1 

^02 


it 


-a a 


a 

1 

43 


CD 

M 
-a 
§ 

>> 




^ 


c 
n 




P 


S 


^ 


M 


^ 




Alabama .... 


26283 


74374 


665 


1399 




1568 


495 


11 


Arkansas 




56760 


87015 


1194 


5842 


_ 


1026 


289 


_ 


9 


California . 




214398 


127492 


11770 


28659 


_ 


_ 


4278 


10 


_ 


Colorado . . 




123700 


126644 


5559 


7974 


_ 


_ 


- 


- 


5 


Connecticut 




112815 


68255 


2380 


5113 


608 


_ 


728 


7 


_ 


Delaware 




25014 


22071 


670 


239 


_ 


_ 


30 


3 


- 


Florida . . 




10654 


31104 


553 


3747 


_ 


1946 


1356 


_ 


5 


Georgia . . 




41692 


72413 


1059 


584 


^ 


16969 


77 


_ 


13 


Idaho . . . 




52621 


36162 


1986 


6400 


_ 


- 


119 


3 


_ 


Illinois . . 




629932 


450810 


29364 


34711 


1680 


633 


7724 


27 


- 


Indiana . . 




348993 


338262 


18045 


13476 


643 


1193 


514 


15 


_ 


Iowa . . . 




275210 


200771 


9837 


8287 




261 


404 


13 


_ 


Kansas . . 




197216 


161209 


5033 


12420 




- 


68 


10 


- 


Kentucky . 




235711 


244092 


5887 


4185 


404 


333 


200 


- 


13 


Louisiana. . 




8958 


63568 


- 


2538 


- 


- 


82 


- 


9 


Maine . . . 




66987 


35403 


1487 


1758 


- 


_ 


700 


6 


- 


Maryland. . 




116513 


115908 


3302 


2323 


- 


- 


485 


2 


6 


Massachusetts 




265966 


155543 


4379 


10781 


1018 


- 


19239 


16 


- 


Michigan . . 




333313 


174619 


10795 


11527 


1086 


_ 


734 


14 


- 


Minnesota . 




195843 


109401 


11107 


14527 


_ 


- 


426 


11 


- 


Mississippi . 




4363 


60287 


- 


978 


_ 


1276 


- 


- 


10 


Missouri . . 




347203 


346574 


4284 


15431 


868 


1165 


402 


18 


- 


Montana . . 




32333 


29326 


827 


5855 


_ 


- 


481 


3 


- 


Nebraska 




126997 


131099 


5179 


3524 


_ 


_ 


_ 


_ 


8 


Nevada . . 




10775 


11212 


- 


2103 


- 


- 


436 


- 


3 


New Hampshir 


s . 


53149 


33655 


905 


1299 


_ 


- 


584 


4 


- 


New Jersey . 




265326 


182567 


4934 


10253 


1196 




2922 


12 


- 


New York . 




870070 


667468 


22667 


38451 


3877 




35817 


39 


- 


North Carolina 




114887 


136928 


- 


345 


- 


- 


- 


_ 


12 


North Dakota 




57680 


32885 


1496 


3421 


- 


- 


43 


4 


_ 


Ohio . . . 




572312 


502721 


11402 


33795 


721 


162 


439 


23 


- 


Oklahoma . 




110558 


122406 


- 


21779 


_ 


434 


244 


- 


7 


Oregon . . 




62530 


38049 


2682 


7339 


- 


- 


289 


4 


_ 


Pennsylvania 




745779 


448785 


36694 


33913 


1222 


_ 


1057 


34 


_ 


Bhode Island 




43942 


24706 


1016 


1365 


183 


- 


1105 


4 


- 


South Carolina 




3965 


62290 


_ 


100 


_ 


_ 


43 


_ 


9 


South Dakota 




67536 


40266 


4039 


2846 


- 


- 


88 


4 


- 


Tennessee . 




118324 


135608 


300 


1870 


- 


1081 


332 


- 


12 


Texas . . . 




65666 


217302 


1634 


7870 


176 


994 


115 


_ 


18 


Utah . . . 




61165 


42601 


- 


4890 


_ 


_ 


92 


3 


_ 


Vermont . . 




39552 


11496 


799 


_ 


- 


- 


804 


4 


- 


Virginia . . 




52573 


82946 


nil 


255 


25 


105 


51 


- 


12 


Washington 




106062 


58691 


4700 


14177 


- 


- 


249 


5 


- 


West Virginia 




137869 


111418 


5139 


3679 


- 


- 


46 


7 


- 


Wisconsin . 




247747 


166662 


11565 


28147 


314 


- 


- 


13 


- 


Wyoming 




20846 


14918 


66 


1715 


- 


- 


64 


3 


- 


Total 


7677788 


6407982 


252511 


420890 


14021 


29146 


83651 


321 


162 



election before 1908 — the vote was 434,800 less in 1908 than 
in 1896. 

A comparison of the vote of 1908 with that of 1904, either 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 209 

as a whole or by groups of States, seems to confirm the con- 
chTsions advanced in the previous cliapter. It was there sug- 
gested that the "safe and sane" policy of the Democrats led 
a considerable body of that party to vote for Mr. Roosevelt 
in preference to Judge Parker, in the belief that the Republi- 
can candidate was the more radical of the two, and that it 
also caused a much larger number to Avithhold their votes al- 
together. The return of Mr. Bryan to the leadership detached 
from the Republicans those radical Democrats who had sup- 
ported Mr. Roosevelt four years before, and it also drew to 
Mr. Taft some conservative Democrats who had voted for Judge 
Parker. At the same time the abstainers of 1904 now went to 
the polls for Mr. Bryan. As a result the gains and losses of 
the Republican candidate virtually offset each other, and the 
Democratic vote was largely increased. The aggregate vote 
does not contradict this theory. Mr. Taft's total vote was less 
than 50,000 more than Roosevelt's, but Mr. Bryan's was 
1,323,000 more than Parker's, 

Comparing, as in the last chapter, the vote for the leading 
candidates by groups of States, we find that in New England, 
which is rather more conservative than some other parts of the 
country, the change was small, as it was between 1900 and 
1904. In round numbers the comparison stands thus : — 

1904 1908 

Republican 569,600 576,400 

Democratic 335,000 329,000 

If any inference may be drawn it is that a larger number of 
conservative Democrats deserted their party than had been 
the case in 1904. But that assertion cannot be made of any 
other group of States. In New York, Ncav Jersey, and Penn- 
sylvania the comparison shows : — 

1904 1908 

Republican 1,945,600 1,881,200 

Democratic 1,184,000 1,298,800 

Here the Republicans lost 64,400, and the Democrats 
gained 114,<S00. The change is not a large one, but so far as 
it goes it is the reversal of the tendency of the previous four 
years which Ave should expect. The tendency to a return to 
normal conditions is more strongly marked in the next group 
— Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, — as the reverse 
tendency was stronger four years before. In 1904 the change 



210 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

in the four States was a gain of 170,000 by the Eepublicans, 
a loss of 420,000 by the Democrats, Now the change is indi- 
cated by the following figures : — 

1904 1908 

Republican 1,963,900 1,875,600 

Democratic '. 1,080,800 1,466,400 

That is, a loss of 88,000 by the Republicans, and a gain of 
385,000 by the Democrats. But the net result of the change 
in eight years is an increase of 114,000 in the Republican 
majority. The change in the seven States of Iowa, Kansas, 
Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Dakotas, is still 
more pronounced. In 1904 the Republicans gained 116,400 
over their vote in 1900; the Democrats lost 344,700. The 
comparison between 1904 and 1908 is as follows : — 

1904 1908 

Republican 1,278,600 1,168,200 

Democratic 501,300 842,300 

That is, the Democrats gained 341,000 ; the Republicans lost 
110,400; and the net result, as compared with 1900, was a 
gain of 6000 by the Republicans, and of 24,700 by the Demo- 
crats, — in short, an almost precise return to the former con- 
ditions. The other Western and the Pacific States — nine in 
number, growing in population more rapidly than the rest of 
the country — show the same tendency. In 1904 the Repub- 
licans cast 194,600 more votes than in 1900; the Democrats, 
132,500 fewer. In 1908 the Republicans increased their vote 
by only 10,000; the Democrats by 163,600, as is indicated by 
the following statement : — 

1904 1908 

Republican 674,400 684,400 

Democratic 321,500 485,100 

It is to be borne in mind, with reference to this last group 
of States, that in 1900 the effect of the Free Silver campaign 
had not disappeared altogether, and the Republicans had a net 
plurality of only 25,800, which was increased in 1904 to 
352,900, and decreased in 1908 to 199,300. 

Finally we have the sixteen Southern States. There are 
contests comparable to those in the North in Delaware, Mary- 
land, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri ; the voting is 
of a more languid character in North Carolina, Tennessee, and 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 211 

Arkansas, but elections have a certain appearance of being 
contested, which is not the case in Virginia, South Carolina, 
Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. 
But it is best to consider the whole group of sixteen States, 
without making the distinction. In 1900 the Democrats had a 
net majority in those States of 495,400 ; in 1904 their plural- 
ity was 412,200, the combined vote for the two leading par- 
ties having decreased 571,400. The record for the elections 
of 1904 and 1908 was: — 

1904 1908 

Republican 1,244,400 1,366,400 

Democratic 1,656,600 1,863,900 

The Republican vote increased 122,000, but was still 
122,100 below that of 1900. The Democratic vote increased 
207,300, but was still 120,000 below the 1900 vote. The 
aggregate vote for the two leading candidates in 1908 ex- 
ceeded that in 1904 by 299,300, of which number 167,700 was 
contributed by the five States which were closely contested, 
89,600 by the three States of North Carolina, Tennessee, and 
Arkansas, and only 40,000 by the other eight. 

It is a common impression that the aggregate vote given to 
the minor parties and candidates shows a tendency to increase. 
Such is not the fact. General Weaver received a larger popular 
vote in 1892 than the combined votes given to all the minor 
candidates in either 1904 or 1908. The Socialist party has 
increased its vote largely at the last two elections, and its 
vote was but slightly larger in 1908 than in 1904. The aggre- 
gate vote given to all the minor candidates at the last eight 
elections is given below : — 

Year JNIinor Candidates 

1880 318,883 

1884 325,736 

1888 400,510 

1892 1,318,2591 

1896 538,8812 

1900 394,809 3 

1904 809,881* 

1908 800,219 5 

1 General Weaver, 1,040,880. 2 Bryan and Watson, 222,583. 

8 Socialist vote, 94,804. 4 Socialist vote, 402,895. 

5 Socialist vote, 420,890. 



212 A HISTOKY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

In 1904 for the first time the Socialist candidates received 
some votes in every state. In 1908 they were voted for in every 
State except Vermont. 

The count of the electoral votes took place on February 10, 
1909. The proceedings were identical in form with those that 
were observed in 1905. The concurrent resolution prescribing 
the form was passed by both houses of Congress without a sug- 
gestion of amendment, without debate, and without opposition. 
The only incident of the count — and it is hardly worthy of 
mention — is that the electors for the State of Wisconsin were 
found to have certified that their votes for President were given 
to William H. Taft, of New York. The tellers were permitted 
to treat the error as an accident, and the votes were counted 
as for Mr. Taft, of Ohio. 

The inauguration, which took place on March 4, 1909, pos- 
sessed some features worthy of notice. Arrangements were made 
for unusual display and ceremony. The installation of a Pre- 
sident in office has gradually become an occasion for spectacular 
effects and for immense gatherings of politicians and of sup- 
porters of the new President. It was estimated that on the 
great day in 1909 Washington contained more than a hundred 
thousand visitors who had been drawn to the capital city to 
witness the advent of a new administration. 

The Weather Bureau predicted a fine day for the ceremony, 
but the weather is capricious in early March, and Washington 
awoke on that morning to find a severe storm raging — wind, and 
snow, and sleet, and rain. Most elaborate bunting decorations 
adorned the buildings along Pennsylvania Avenue. They were 
drenched and drooping long before the President and the Pre- 
sident-elect entered tlie motor-car at the White House to pro- 
ceed to the Capitol. When the distinguished company was as- 
sembled in the Senate Chamber — both houses of Congress, the 
Supreme Court, the Cabinet, and the Diplomatic Corps — the 
oath was administered to Mr. Sherman, the Vice-President-elect, 
who delivered a brief inaugural address, the Senate adjourned, 
the Senate as it was to be constituted for the ensuing two years 
was called to order, and the oath was administered to the new 
senators. 

At this point it is customary for a procession to be formed to 
proceed to the east front of the Capitol, where the oath of office 
is taken by the new President in the presence of assembled 
tens of thousands of people. But owing to the extremely in- 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 213 

clement weather and the age of many of those in official posi- 
tion who would take part in the procession, the inauguration 
took place in the Senate Chamber. The oath was administered 
to Mr. Taft by Chief Justice Fuller, — the sixth, and last, 
time that he inducted a President into office. The ambition of 
Mr. Taft, of which he made no secret, to occupy a seat on the 
bench of the Supreme Court, led to an interesting variation of 
the ceremony. It has been the custom of Presidents to take 
the oath on a Bible, usually presented to them for the purpose, 
and to retain the book. But Mr. Taft wished to make use of 
the Bible on which, for well-nigh a century, justices of the 
Supreme Court have placed a hand when taking the oath. 

After the delivery of the inaugural address, Mr. Roosevelt, 
now a private citizen, retired from the Senate Chamber, hotly 
applauded as he withdrew, and under the escort of a large body 
of New Yorkers, went directly to the railway station, where 
he was soon joined by Mrs, Roosevelt, and took the train for 
his home at Oyster Bay. 

That also was a departure from custom, for it has been us- 
ual for the retiring President to accompany his successor not 
only in going to the Capitol, but on the return to the White 
House. On this occasion both Mr. Taft and Mr. Sherman were 
accompanied by their wives on the return journey. The parade 
which had been planned was carried out in spite of slush in 
the street and sleet in the air, and the newly installed Presid- 
ent and Vice-President reviewed it from a stand in front of 
the White House. 



IV 

THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 

If a member of the Convention that framed the Constitution 
were to come back to earth, what feature of the present situa- 
tion would most astonish him ? That the population of less 
than four millions in 1790 had grown into a nation of more 
than ninety millions in 1910 ? That the area of the Union had 
increased from 900,000 square miles to more than 3,000,000, 
— not to mention island possessions in two oceans ? That the 
government which the Convention devised had endured for 
nearly a century and a quarter, and was more united and more 
stable at the end of the period than at the beginning ? That 
the government had not only endured, but had remained un- 
changed, so far as the written Constitution was concerned, ex- 
cept in minor and unimportant details ? 

After all, is not that last-mentioned fact the most astonish- 
ing of all ? The fathers undoubtedly expected expansion and 
growth, for they provided for it. They might have hoped, with 
many a doubt, that their work would be lasting, for they de- 
clared their purpose to be the creation of " a more perfect 
union." But they could not have anticipated that — granted 
such a growth as the country has experienced — radical changes 
would not be found necessary, that their Constitution would 
prove self-adaptable to conditions enormously modified. In 
that fact more than in any other lies the explanation of the 
political miracle of the American Republic — the adaptability 
of the Constitution. 

Each of the three great divisions of the government has 
found an elasticity in the terms of the Constitution which has 
enabled it to discharge duties and to meet conditions that 
could not have been foreseen when that Constitution was 
framed. The Supreme Court, in which resides the plenary form 
of the Judicial Department, has assumed and exercises without 
question the power of construing the laws according to the 
spirit of the Constitution, — a power which even Hamilton de- 
clared^ was not directly conferred, and which he thought it 
1 See No. lxxxi of the Federalist. 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 215 

unlikely that the Court would exercise. Congress has discov- 
ered implied powers in the specific grants contained in the 
eighth section of the first article, by the use of which it takes 
complete and undisputed jurisdiction over matters and indus- 
tries unknown to the eighteenth century. One can fancy Luther 
Martin, the great objector, opening his eyes over a construction of 
the clause granting power to lay taxes, under which Congress 
passes an act having for its sole object a prohibition of the use 
of a certain ingredient in the manufacture of matches ; or of 
the clause granting power to regulate commerce as justifying a 
requirement that railway cars shall be equipped with air brakes. 

But it is in the Executive Department that the largest de- 
velopment has taken place, and the development of the great- 
est constitutional significance. It is the only one of the three 
departments in which development has been in any degree at 
the expense of either of the other two. The Constitution does 
not make an absolute separation of powers, but it defines the 
limits of the participation of each department in the field as- 
signed to the other two. Of the Executive Department alone 
can it be asserted that it has exceeded those limits. Whether 
the assertion be true or false — and upon that no opinion is at 
present expressed — two remarks may be made : first, that there 
has been no violation of the letter of the Constitution in the 
evolution of the presidency ; and, second, that there has been 
no general, indeed, hardly an occasional and sporadic, objection 
to the increase of the President's power. As in the eases of the 
Supreme Court and of Congress, popular acquiescence may be 
held to have justified a real constitutional change which has 
not found expression in an amendment. 

Nevertheless it is necessary to make note of the changes 
that have taken place, and to follow them historically. 

The founders of our republics . . . seem never for a moment to 
have turned their eyes from the danger to liberty from the over- 
grown and all-grasping prerogative of an hereditary magistrate, 
supported and fortified by an hereditary branch of the legislative 
authority. They seem never to have recollected the danger from 
legislative usurpations, which, by assembling all power into the 
same hands, must lead to the same tyranny as is threatened by 
executive usurpations. 

So wrote Madison in number xlvii of the " Federalist. " 
He was discussing the distribution of powers between the 



216 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

President and Congress, in the Constitution which the writers 
of the " Federalist " were endeavoring to persuade the people of 
New York to ratify. His argument was, in effect, that en- 
croachments upon liberty are always to be guarded against, 
whether the offender be the executive, concentrated in a single 
person, or the legislature ; and that the Constitution provided 
ample security against the danger in either form. His opinion 
evidently was that the more immediate danger was that from 
legislative usurpation. " The legislative department is every- 
where extending the sphere of its activity, and drawing all power 
into its impetuous vortex." ^ That the peril thus signalized was 
foremost in the minds of the framers of the Constitution, is 
made plainly evident by an examination of the document itself. 
The functions which were conferred upon Congress, and those 
which were forbidden to it, are specified with minuteness. On the 
other hand, the powers of the President are expressed in broad 
and general terms, and are accompanied by no prohibitions. 
Let us see what, exactly, those powers are : in conjunction with 
the Senate, to make treaties, and to appoint all officers ; to re- 
ceive ambassadors ; to be commander-in-chief of the army and 
navy ; to grant pardons ; to give to Congress information of the 
state of the union ; to summon Congress in extraordinary ses- 
sion; to recommend measures to the consideration of Congress; 
to exercise a qualified veto upon legislation. These are all pow- 
ers, as distinguished from duties, because all of them call for 
the exercise of a discretion whether on any given occasion to 
use them or not. The sole duty imposed upon him is to " take 
care that the laws be faithfully executed." 

It is a commonplace to all who have studied the political 
history of the country that the early Presidents took a modest 
view of their power in the government. No President has ever 
assumed direct personal command of the army or the navy. From 
the beginning the Presidents exercised a controlling power 
over the foreign relations, and maintained with spirit their 

1 In this passage Mr. Madison unconsciously or deliberately, repeated him- 
self. In his diary of the Convention for July 17, 1787, occurs the following: 
"Mr. Madison was not apprehensive of being thought to favor any step to- 
wards monarch}'. The real object with him was to prevent its introduction. 
Experience had proved a tendency in our governments to throw all power 
into the legislative vortex. The executives of the States are in general little 
more than cyphers; the legislatures omnipotent. If no effectual check be de- 
vised for restraining the instability & encroachments of the latter, a revolu- 
tion of some kind or other would be inevitable." 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDEXCY 217 

prerogative of initiative in all such matters as the negotiation 
of treaties and the recognition of foreign governments. They 
liave also successfully resisted, as well as resented, attempts to 
draw from them the details of instructions to American pleni- 
potentiaries, and of correspondence with foreign governments, 
which they deemed it to be for the public welfare to withhold. 
]>ut there were in the early days no other than the most formal 
official relations between the President and the Congress. It 
was the function of Congress to initiate and pass laws; that of 
the President to approve or disapprove them when presented 
to him. 

Students of public and official life in Kew York and Phila- 
delphia during Washington's presidency know that the parti- 
san opposition to the Father of his Country dwelt upon his 
asserted liking for the fashions of a monarchical court; upon his 
firmness in the conduct of foreign affairs, as in the matter of 
the Jay Treaty ; upon the vigor displayed in the suppression 
of the Whiskey insurrection in Pennsylvania. Senator William 
Maclay criticised him as wishing to "subjugate" the Senate 
because it was not provided in the bills creating the executive 
dejiartments that the Senate was to be consulted in the matter 
of the removal of the heads of those departments.^ 

The makers of the Constitution devoted much time and dis- 
cussion to the Executive Department, but hardly any to the 
consideration of matters with which we are now concerned. 
They made many contradictory decisions upon the questions 
whether there should be a single Executive ; how he should be 
chosen ; the length of his tenure of the office ; whether he 
should or should not be eligible for reelection ; whether his 
veto should be absolute or qualified, and if qualified whether 
a two-thirds or three-fourths vote should be required to over- 
ride it. There was almost no discussion of the clauses specify- 
ing his powers and duties — of the clauses in the phraseology 
finally agreed upon, no discussion at all. 

Let us now consider in what directions and to what extent 
the presidency has been extended and developed since the Con- 

1 It is interesting: to note, as illustrating the great differences of opinion as 
to the effect of the Constitution before that effect had manifested itself in prac- 
tice, that ISIr. James Wilson, also of Pennsylvania, in discussing this very 
subject of the participation of the Senate in appointments by the President, — 
in the session of September 6, in the Convention of 1787, — maintained that 
the proposed Constitution created an aristocracy, by "throwing a dangerous 
power into the hands of the Senate." 



218 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

stitution was put in operation. As for certain plenary powers 
there could be no expansion. The general command of the mil- 
itary and naval forces; the grant of pardons; the summoning 
of one or both houses of Congress in extraordinary session ; the 
negotiation of treaties to be ratified by the Senate ; and the 
nomination of officers to be confirmed by the Senate; — these 
are all powers explicitly conferred without qualification ; and 
the duty of seeing that the laws be faithfully executed also 
rests upon the President alone. The right to receive ambassa- 
dors, as has been said already, was, in early days, construed to 
give the President power to recognize, or to refuse to recog- 
nize, a revolutionary government, by deciding whether or not 
to receive a person accredited as a diplomatic representative of 
that government. His right thus to fix its relation — or want of 
relation — to the government of the United States has been 
often disputed on the floor of both houses of Congress, but 
there is believed to be no example of an effective overruling of 
the President's decision. The exercise of the power may be 
treated as a natural and not unreasonable extension of a power 
specifically conferred, and the power itself as one which — not 
being derivable from any grant to Congress, and yet necessarily 
within the jurisdiction of some department of every sovereign 
government — falls obviously to that department which has 
primarily the oversight of foreign relations. 

Outside of the powers and duties just mentioned, as to only 
one of which has there ever been any dispute, there are three 
directions in which the presidency has extended itself largely: 
in the matter of removals from office ; in the use of the veto 
power ; and in the relations between the President and Con- 
gress. We will take them in the above order. 

The Convention of 1787 discussed repeatedly the method of 
appointment of the civil officers of the United States, but did 
not once consider the general subject of removals. Mr. Gouver- 
neur Morris submitted a plan for a Council of State, consisting 
of the Chief Justice and five heads of departments, each of 
whom was to " be liable to impeachment and removal from 
office, for neglect of duty, malversation, or corruption " ; but 
it was merely referred to the Committee of Detail and heard 
from no more. With that exception, and with the further ex- 
ception of some consideration of the removability of judges, the 
corollary that appointment in numerous cases implies previous 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 219 

removal from office, was not once mentioned. The omission was 
quickly perceived by the opponents of the Constitution, who 
made the objection that whereas appointments were required 
to have the consent of the Senate, the President would exercise 
the right of removal alone. Hamilton ^ held the opposite opin- 
ion. " The consent of that body [the Senate] would be ne- 
cessary," he wrote, " to displace as well as to appoint." So 
evidently thought Mr. Justice Story, although he expressed 
himself in guarded language. His " Commentaries on the Con- 
stitution " was written during tlie administration of Andrew 
Jackson, whose wholesale removals from office — characterized 
by Story as an *' extraordinary change of system" — has, he 
says, " awakened general attention, and brought back the 
wliole controversy with regard to the executive power of re- 
moval to a severe scrutiny. Many of the most eminent states- 
men in the country have expressed a deliberate opinion that it 
is utterly indefensible, and that the only sound interpretation 
of the Constitution is that avowed upon its adoption ; that is 
to say, that the power of removal belongs to the appointing 
power." 

Chancellor Kent wrote his " Commentaries " a few years ear- 
lier, in the administration of John Quincy Adams, before the 
*' extraordinary change of system " took place, and his opinion 
was different. He held that the construction in favor of the 
President's exclusive power of removal was '' supported by the 
weighty reason that the subordinate officers in the Executive 
Department ought to hold at the pleasure of the head of that 
Department, because he is invested generally with the execu- 
tive authority, and every participation in that authority by the 
Senate was an exception to a general principle, and ought to 
be taken strictly. The President is the great responsible officer 
for the faithful execution of the law, and the power of removal 
was incidental to that duty, and might often be requisite to 
fulfil it." 

Both Kent and Story refer, with expressions of amazement, 
to the strangely haphazard way in which the current interpre- 
tation of the Constitution became effective. But they do not 
mention the occasion on which the question was first raised. 
For information on that point we are indebted to the frank and 
racy diary of William IVfaclay, one of the first senators from 
Pennsylvania. Less than two months after the inauguration of 
1 In No. Lxxvii of the Federalist. 



220 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

Washington as President (April 30, 1789), Mr. John Jay — 
who at that time held no office^ — "came in," wrote Mr. 
Maclay, and informed the Senate that Mr. Jefferson wished to 
return from France, and that the President nominated William 
Short as his successor as Minister to France. This was on June 
17. Apparently it was the first nomination ever sent to the Sen- 
ate, for Mr. Maclay says that the Vice-President immediately 
began telling the senators how they were to give their " advice 
and consent." Two days later Mr. Maclay made a speech on 
the constitutional problem involved. Had the President a right, 
by himself alone, to give Mr. Jefferson leave of absence ? If the 
Senate should choose to negative his return it would be neces- 
sary only to refuse to confirm Mr. Short or any one else in his 
place. 

In July the bill for organizing the Department of Foreign 
Affairs came up to the Senate from the House of Representa- 
tives. It contained a clause, innocent at first sight, providing 
that the Secretary should appoint a chief clerk who was to dis- 
charge the duties of the office " whenever the said principal 
officer shall be removed from office by the President of the 
United States." The clause had been vigorously attacked in 
the House of Representatives, but had been allowed to stand. 
Now a renewed attack was made upon it. From Mr. Maclay's 
account of the debate, which lasted several days, it is easy to 
see that the discussion was animated and angry. There are re- 
ferences in the diary to the efforts of the ''court party " to save 
the clause, and certain senators are mentioned by name as hav- 
ing " recanted" and become supporters of the clause after speak- 
ing against' it. When the vote was taken it was a tie — ten to 
ten. " The Vice-President with joy cried out, ' It is not a vote ! ' 
without giving himself time to declare the division of the 
House and give his vote in order." The interpretation thus 
casually put upon the Constitution by the casting vote of the 
Vice-President was not seriously challenged for more than three 
quarters of a century. 

The early Presidents used the power of removal sparinglj'-. 
Washington removed only nine officers during his eight years 
of service, and in every case the removal was for cause. The 
two Adamses, Madison, and Monroe also exercised great for- 
bearance. Jefferson used his power a little more freely, but he 

1 Unless his appointment as Foreign Secretary under the Articles of Con- 
federation was still effective. 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 221 

expressly disclaimed the right to remove for differences of po- 
litical opinion, or otherwise than for some clear public good. 
During the administration of Monroe, the " era of good feel- 
ings," there were not two parties. All men professed themselves 
to be Republicans. Party spirit was reinvoked in the adminis- 
tration of the second Adams ; but he refused to punish with 
dismissal officers who placed themselves in opposition to his 
administration, and the officers whom he left in office at the end 
of his term were not generally men whom he had appointed, 
and they were by no means persons selected with a view to 
promoting his own political future. There was therefore no 
reason, other than to reward those who had supported him 
in the canvass of 1828, that can be assigned as the motive of 
General Jackson's immediate and radical change of system. 
Within one year from the time of his entry upon office he dis- 
missed two hundred and forty-three officers, including nearly 
all in the diplomatic, treasury, and civil court services, and his 
Postmaster-General removed four hundred and ninety-one post- 
masters. Story, who gives these figures in a note,^ credits them 
to a speech of Mr. Clayton in the Senate, March 4, 1830, and 
says that they are " confessedly imperfect." He also says that 
it is not probable that the aggregate of removals during the 
forty years preceding Jackson's administration amounted to one 
third of the number of Jackson's removals in a single year. 

The opponents of the President regarded his action as a 
great scandal, but the theory on which it was based Avas de- 
fended by his supporters. The classic defence was contained 
in a speech by William L. Marcy in the Senate in January, 
1832.^ In speaking of the politicians of the time he said, 
*' When they are contending for victory, they avow the inten- 
tion of enjoying the fruits of it. If they are defeated, they 
expect to retire from office. If they are successful, they claim, 
as a matter of right, the advantages of success. They see no- 
thing wrong in the rule that to the victor belong the spoils of 
the enemy." Although the opposition party protested strongly 
against the "rule," they followed it when their turn came. 
Jackson set a fashion which was followed by his successors. For 
more than forty years every change in the party control of the 
national government was made the occasion of a political raas- 

1 Commentaries, book ill, chapter xxxvii. 

2 During^ his first month of service in that body. He took his seat in De- 
cember, 1831, and resigned to become governor of New York in July, 1832. 



222 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

sacre. Possibly there was a better excuse for it when Lincoln 
became President than on some former occasions, since there 
was real reason to doubt the loyalty of officers, high and low, 
in the North as well as in the South. But the rule that offices 
were a legitimate perquisite not merely of the party in power 
but of the particular persons who happened to be in the exercise 
of power as well, engrafted itself upon the simpler rule, and 
was carried out in a relentless manner during the administra- 
tion of General Grant. It was not enough that one holding an 
office should be a loyal, even an active, member of the Repub- 
lican party. He must also be persona grata to the President, 
or to the senator to whose share that particular piece of patron- 
age fell. No more scandalous chapter of political history can 
be cited than that which covers the story of the New York cus- 
tom-house in Grant's time. 

The Jackson regime ended when Harrison and Tyler were 
installed. Polk turned out all the Whigs who had survived 
until his time. Taylor and Fillmore gave the Whigs a four 
years' taste of office, but they all went out under Pierce. 
Lincoln made a clean sweep of the Democrats,^ — and then 
came Johnson. 

His breach with the party that elected him was gradual, but 
by the autumn of 1866 it was complete, and he began to 
wreak vengeance upon those who were opposing him in Con- 
gress by turning out of office those whom they had recom- 
mended, and filling their places with supporters of his " policy," 
who, of course, were Democrats. The removals — there were 
said to be 1283 postmasters and a corresponding number of 
officers of other departments, in the list — were made during 
the recess of the Senate, for Congress adjourned on July 28, 
and did not meet again until December. But when the second 
session of the Thirty-ninth Congress began there was immediate 
action to limit the President's power in this as in other direc- 
tions. The Tenure of Office Act was passed, was vetoed, and 
was passed again notwithstanding the objections of the Pres- 
ident, on the last day of the session — March 2, 1867. It was 
a comprehensive measure. It enacted that persons holding 
office by and with the advice and consent of the Senate were 
entitled to hold such office, until their successors should be 

1 During that period, when the spoils sj'stem prevailed without dispute, 917 
removals were made by two successive collectors of the port of New York. 
The average number of emploj-es in the custom-house was less than 700. 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 223 

duly appointed in like manner, and qualified; that the mem- 
bers of the Cabinet should hold their respective offices during the 
term of the President by -whom they may have been appointed, 
and for one month thereafter, subject to removal by and with 
the advice and consent of the Senate ; that, during a recess of 
the Senate, for specified reasons, the President might suspend 
officers and designate persons to hold their places temporarily, 
but he was required to report such suspensions to the Senate, 
and if the Senate did not concur, the suspended officer resumed 
his office ; that when the President, in pursuance of his con- 
stitutional power, filled vacancies which might happen — not 
those caused by removal — during a recess of the Senate, if no 
appointment by and with the advice and consent of the Senate 
should be made during the ensuing session, the office was to 
remain in abeyance until an appointment should be made by 
the constitutional method. It was declared to be a high mis- 
demeanor to accept or exercise the duties of an office in viola- 
tion of the provisions of the act, punishable by a heavy fine or 
by imprisonment. 

The bill was introduced by Thaddeus Stevens, but in its 
final form was quite different from the original text. In the 
long debates which took place in both houses of Congress, the 
point most discussed was the application of the principle of the 
bill to cabinet officers, though the general constitutional ques- 
tion was considered in academical arguments. It was contended 
by the more conservative Republicans that the President should 
have a free hand so far as the heads of the executive depart- 
ments were concerned. But although the Senate struck out the 
clause relating to the secretaries, it was restored by the Com- 
mittee of Conference. The bill was passed by both branches by 
votes of about three to one. It was vetoed by President John- 
son, and passed over his veto by a majority even greater than 
that on accepting the report of the conference committee. 
This was the only instance in the constitutional history of the 
country when the veto power was invoked for what — as will 
be seen — Mr. Gerry and Hamilton himself regarded as the 
chief object of granting the President a " revisionary" power, 
namely, to enable him to resist encroachments on his consti- 
tutional authority. 

Inasmuch as Congress held the purse, and could discontinue 
the salary attached to any office which the President might 
attempt to fill in violation of the provisions of the act, he was 



224 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

forced to comply with it, — though his action in the matter of 
the removal of Secretary Stanton disregarded it. 

The debates in the two houses of Congress over the meas- 
ure make it plain that many members were dragged into the 
support of it against their better judgment. There were few — 
were there any ? — members who repudiated the theory that 
the spoils belonged to the victors. The law which they were 
asked to pass would stand in the way of the next President 
whom the Republicans were sure to elect. But aside from that 
sordid argument, many of the members felt that it was a rather 
mean revenge which was planned for a political enemy. Some 
of them showed their reluctance to vote for it, but none except 
the "Johnson Republicans" gave their votes in the negative. 
Mr. Blaine, who voted for the bill, says in his '' Twenty Years 
of Congress" that "the history of its operation, and of its 
subsequent , modification, which amounted to repeal, is one to 
which the Republican party cannot recur with any sense of 
pride or satisfaction." ^ Even before the close of Johnson's 
administration a movement began to repeal the Tenure of Of- 
fice Act. The occasion for the measure was about to be a thing 
of the past. General Grant was soon to succeed the President 
who had made himself and his acts obnoxious to the party in 
power. In January, 1869, the House of Representatives, with 
no debate, passed a bill to repeal the law. The Senate was not 
willing to concur. The law of 1867 gave that body a power 
over removals which it was reluctant to relinquish. A com- 
mittee reported a substitute for the repealing bill, which did 
little more than exempt cabinet ministers from the operation 
of the act. Nothing more was done at that session, but at the 
extraordinary session which began simultaneously with Gen- 
eral Grant's term, the modification of the law which found 
favor with the Senate was reluctantly accepted by the House 
of Representatives which had, a second time, by a majority of 
five or six to one, voted for repeal. In that form the law stood 
until — during the first administration of President Cleveland, 
March 2, 1887 — the sections of the Revised Statutes covering 
the whole subject of removals from office were repealed, and 
by omission of all legislation on the point, the system which 
prevailed from "Washington to Johnson was restored. 

But during the period following the Civil War the public 
conscience was awakened to the great evils and the political 
1 Vol. II, p. 274. 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 225 

demoralization that attended the treatment of office as a reward 
of party activity. Only those who are familiar with political 
conditions prior to that time can be aware of the universal in- 
difference to the scandal, not merely of the active politicians 
but of the people at large as well. In fact, the spoils system 
was taken as a matter of course by all, and was vigorously ap- 
plied by those even who might be classed as statesmen. That 
fact explains the difficulty and the opposition encountered by 
those who first undertook the promotion of a reform of the 
civil service ; and so thoroughly ingrained in the public mind 
was. the old-time principle, that the opposition has not yet 
ceased, although it is no longer effective. The early reformers 
Avere looked upon as idealists, too good for this wicked world, 
and they made slow progress. 

Fortunately the Presidents have been, on the whole, uphold- 
ers of a better, the merit system. Congress passed an act in 
1871 which authorized the President to cause the proper means 
to be taken to ascertain the fitness of candidates for office. 
Under that act President Grant appointed a commission which 
instituted competitive examinations in the departments at 
Washington ; but after two years Congress refused to make 
further appropriations to enable the commission to continue its 
work, although the President praised the work already done 
and informed Congress that " it would be a source of mortifica- 
tion to himself" if the appropriation should be withheld. The 
President thereupon, in 1875, suspended the rules, and the re- 
form came to an end for the time being. But the reformers per- 
sisted, and after nearly eight years more of agitation succeeded 
in persuading Congress to pass the act of January 16, 1883, 
which President Arthur promptly approved. Under that law 
a classified service was established, in a small way at first, and 
covering only a comparatively few of the clerical officers in the 
executive departments and in large post-offices. The list has 
been increased by every President since that time and now in- 
cludes almost the whole civil service. The important exception 
is the offices that are still filled by appointment by the Presid- 
ent with the concurrence of the Senate. 

Thus the presidential office has developed in two opposite 
directions. From the policy of abstention from removals under 
the Presidents from Washington to the second Adams, it 
turned to the system of wholesale proscription under Jackson, 
and to that system it adhered until the reform which began 



226 A HISTORY OF THE TRESIDENCY 

\;ndev Grant was coniiiuied and extended by every President 
to the present time. JSIot that there have not been many viola- 
tions oi" tlie spirit of tlie reform. "Turn the rascals out" has 
been a party motto when there has been a change of adminis- 
tration, the " rascals " of course being all oilicers who supported 
the defeated party. Clerks and others appointed under the com- 
petitive system were secure, but consuls, collectors, postmas- 
ters, chief clerks, and others of that class were subject to 
removal, and in many cases were removed. To cite but one 
example, purely by way of example, and not to bo invidious, 
the ravages wrought in the consular service under President 
Cleveland were inexcusable. But, as has been said, one I'resid- 
ent after another has cut out class after class of officers who 
have been appointed as reward for party service, and brought 
them under the rules of the reformed civil service, and has 
thus diminished the number of those whom it will ever be worth 
while to displace in order to provide a position and a salary 
for some one more agreeable than the incumbent to the exist- 
ing administration. 

One clause of the Constitution which has not heretofore been 
mentioned was much discussed in 1904 in connection with cer- 
tain " recess " appointments made by President Roosevelt. The 
clause reads : — 

The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may 
happen during tlie recess of tlie Senate, by granting commissions 
which shall expire at the end of tlieir next session. 

The President, in January, 1003, nominated William D. 
Crum, a colored man, to be collector of the port of Charleston, 
South Carolina. An adverse report upon the nomination was 
made by the Senate Committee on Finance, but no action was 
taken on the report, and the session, and the Fifty-seventh 
Congress, came to an end on the 4th of Marcli. The Senate 
met in special session on the same day, and the President again 
sent in the name of Mr. Crum. Again the Senate adjourned 
without action on the nomination. On the 20th of March the 
President, "during the recess of the Senate" issued a commis- 
sion to Mr. Crum. Congress met in extraordinary session in 
November, 1903, and the nomination was sent in a third time. 
Again no action was taken. The extraordinary session of Con- 
gress ended at noon on December 2, and at the same time, 
without any intermission, the regular session of the Senate be- 



THE EVOLUTION OF 'I'lIE PllESIDENCT 227 

gan. It appeared from an official Itittor from the Secretary of 
the Treasury that " precisely at twelve o'clock " on that day 
the President issued a new commission to Mr. Crutn. At the 
same time he issued fresh commissions to one hundred and 
sixty -eight officers of the army. All those officers held recess 
apjjointments, and had been nominated to the Senate, and the 
Senate had not acted on tliem. The list of military officers was 
headed by the name of Jirigadier-General Wood, nominated to 
be major-general, and all the other promotions were dependent 
upon that. His promotion was the only one to which there was 
opposition. The theory upon which the new commissions were 
issued was that between the end of the extraordinary session 
and the beginning of the regular session there was a " con- 
structive " recess. 

There were two constitutional questions involved in this 
case, although one of them was discussed but little on that oc- 
casion. For it seems to have l>een tacitly agreed, long ago, that 
the word " happen " in the clause quoted above is to be inter- 
jjreted to signify luijiptm to ha existing. That is to say, a va- 
cancy actually occurring in November, before Congress meets, 
may be filled by the I'resident in the following July if the 
Senate has not confirmed any appointee. A contrary view was 
taken in an able report of the Judiciary Committee of the Sen- 
ate in 18C3, during Mr. Lincoln's presidency, and the Tenure 
of Office Act expressly provided that if the Senate did not 
confirm an appointment the office should remain in abeyance 
until it should be filled by an appointment to which the Sen- 
ate consented. But the usual practice before the Civil War, 
and after the repeal of the Tenure of Office Act, was to i^er- 
mit the President to fill any office in which a vacancy existed, 
— no matter when it first " happened," — when the Senate was 
not in session. 

]iut President Roosevelt's action raised a new problem, and 
gave rise to much hair-splitting argument. No one, on either 
side of the Senate, openly maintained that there was anything 
in the idea of a constructive recess, but some of the senators 
held that as the two sessions merged into each other the original 
recess appointments held until t?ie adjournment of the Senate 
at the close of the regular session. Even that construction 
was a virtual condemnation of the reissue of conimissions and 
the renewal of the nominations. It was brought out in the 
Senate debate by Mr, Tillman, of South Carolina, who took 



228 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

the lead in opposing the new gloss on the Constitution, that 
in 1867 the Senate refused to close the final session of the 
Thirty-ninth Congress at half-past eleven o'clock on March 4, 
because that would leave a recess of half an hour before the 
meeting of the Fortieth Congress, in which time President 
Johnson, whom Senator Sumner characterized as " a bad 
man," might Avork mischief by recess appointments. At the 
close of the Senate debate in 1904 the resolution offered by 
Mr. Tillman was adopted. It directed the Committee on the 
Judiciary to report " what constitutes a ' recess ot the Senate,' 
and what are the powers and limitations of the Executive in 
making appointments in s ich cases." The committee did not 
report, and the whole subject was dropped, probably with the 
idea that the publicity given to the matter and the unanimity 
of the Senate on the question, would be sufficient to render 
unlikely similar action by any future President. 

The extension of the use of the veto power is the second 
large development of the presidential office. There is no doubt 
that the intention of the framers of the Constitution would not 
have sanctioned the present interpretation of the clause grant- 
ing the power. There is equally, of course, no doubt that the 
intention of the fathers cannot and ought not to control, to the 
prevention of anything that circumstances render necessary, and 
that Congress and the people sanction by thieir acquiescence. 
More especially is that true if the change is clearly admissible 
under the language of the Constitution. 

The provision which gives the President a qualified veto 
upon legislation was discussed many times in the Convention, 
The votes upon it were far more consistent than those upon 
many other features of the Constitution. In fact, the Con- 
vention hardly wavered at any time from the decision that the 
power should reside in the President alone, and that his veto 
should be overruled by a two-thirds vote of each branch of the 
legislature. But several other propositions were made and urged 
with earnestness : that the veto should be absolute ; that it 
should require a three-fourths vote to pass bills over the veto ; 
that a council of revision, with a negative power, should be 
formed to consider bills ; and that some of the judges should be 
joined with the President to exercise the power. The last-men- 
tioned modification was that which was most frequently brought 
forward, most persistently pressed, and supported by the strong- 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 229 

est authority. Mr, Madison favored it and spoke many times 
in its support. Mr. Gouverneur Morris and Mr. Ellsworth were 
on the same side. It is in connection with this proposition that 
we get the most light as to the motives of the memhers of the 
Convention in providing a veto on congressional legislation. 
Almost the sole object seems to have been to prevent en- 
croachment by the legislative department upon the Executive 
and the Judiciary. That fact explains Mr. Madison's repeated 
efforts to have judges associated with the President. Mr. Gerry, 
who opposed the participation of judges in the veto power, said 
that " the object, he conceived, of the revisionary power was 
merely to secure the Executive Department against legislative 
encroachment. The Executive, therefore, who will best know 
and be ready to defend his rights, ought alone to have the de- 
fence of them." Mr. Morris — in the same debate^ — "con- 
curred in thinking the public liberty in greater danger from 
legislative usurpation than from any other source." Colonel 
Mason, and he alone, suggested " that the defence of the Ex- 
ecutive was not the sole object of the revisionary power. He 
expected even greater advantages from it. Notwithstanding the 
precautions taken in the constitution of the Legislature, it 
would still so much resemble that of the individual States, that 
it must be expected frequently to pass unjust and pernicious 
laws. This restraining power was therefore essentially neces- 
sary. It would have the effect not only of hindering the final 
passage of such laws, but would discourage demagogues from 
attempting to get them passed." 

Hamilton in the " Federalist " ^ takes precisely the view of 
Colonel Mason. In one place he refers to '^ the case for which 
it is chiefly designed, that of an immediate attack upon the 
constitutional rights of the Executive," and in another to " the 
propensity of the Legislative department to intrude upon the 
rights and to absorb the powers of the other departments," 
but he also says : — 

The power in question has a further use. It not only serves as 
a shield to the Executive, but it furnishes an additional security 
against the enaction of improper laws. It establishes a salutary 
check upon the legislative body, calculated to guard the commun- 
ity against the effects of faction, precipitancy, or of any impulse 
unfriendly to the pulilic good, which may happen to influence a 
majority of that body. 

1 July 21, 1787. 2 No. lxxui. 



230 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

He thought that '' the negative would generally, be employed 
with great caution," and maintained "that there would be 
greater danger of his not using the power when necessary than 
of his using it too often or too much." 

Such was the commonly accepted theory of the veto power 
when the Constitution went into operation. The President 
was armed with a power to resist encroachment on his consti- 
tutional rights, and that power might also be employed to 
defeat bad laws. The early Presidents — in fact, no President 
before Andrew Johnson — were not forced to use it to resist 
encroachments upon the constitutional rights of the Executive. 
They interpreted the phrase "bad law^s" to mean only uncon- 
stitutional measures, and measures obviously objectionable be- 
cause passed without due consideration. Washington vetoed 
only two bills during his eight years of service. The first of 
them was an apportionment bill based on the first census. He 
was urged to disapprove the bill not only because it was — 
in the view of Jetferson, but not in that of Hamilton — vio- 
lative of the Constitution, but in order to assert a power which 
the people might come to believe was never to be exercised. 
The other bill was hastily drawn and self-contradictory in one 
clause. Neither John Adams nor Jefferson vetoed any bill. 
Madison sent in six vetoes in eight years, — four on the 
ground of unconstitutionality, or because — among other reasons 
— it "introduces an unsuitable relation of members of the 
Judiciary Department to a discretionary authority of the 
Executive Department " — virtually a constitutional objection; 
and the sixth because of a defect in drafting. Monroe, in 
eight years, vetoed one bill only, — an " internal improve- 
ments " bill, — and that on the ground that it was unconstitu- 
tional. John Quincy Adams, although dealing with a Congress 
politically hostile to him, did not once exercise the power. 

Andrew Jackson vetoed nine bills. Six of them were ob- 
jected to as being repugnant to the Constitution. The others 
did not commend themselves to him as being wise. He was 
thus the first to treat the constitutional power of veto as one 
which authorized the President to interpose his judgment on 
a question of public policy to defeat a congressional enactment. 
No doubt he had ample warrant in the text of the Constitu- 
tion and in the opinions of its original interpreters for holding 
that he possessed authority so to do. Jackson was also the 
first to employ the "pocket" veto, but he did not employ it 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 231 

in the same way as became habitual with later Presidents. In 
1812 Madison returned to Congress a bill which was submit- 
ted to him too late in the previous session to be returned 
with his objections. That, therefore, was the first approach to 
a '* pocket" veto. Jackson, in like manner, sent a message to 
the Senate, in 1833, giving the reasons why he had not approved 
a bill submitted to him just before the close of the previous 
session. The next year he incorporated in his annual message 
his reasons for not approving another bill which reached him 
too late for his consideration. Still later, he prepared a message 
giving his objections to another bill, submitted under similar 
circumstances ; but that message he never sent to Congress, but 
filed it with the Secretary of State. In none of these cases was 
there anything irregular, or anything to which even a violent 
partisan could take exception. It is not the duty of a President 
to sign a bill to which he has objections, if Congress has not 
given him the full time for consideration allowed by the Consti- 
tution. If the bill fails it is the fault of Congress. In these 
early cases the President made public, and in every instance ex- 
cept the last mentioned he sent to Congress, his reasons for dis- 
approval. That formality is not observed in the modern prac- 
tice of the pocket veto. The President does not sign the bill ; 
he does not give reasons for withholding his approval. He had 
no opportunity to do so before adjournment. Whether the 
spirit of the Constitution would be better observed if he were 
to communicate his objections to Congress at the ensuing ses- 
sion, is a fair question for argument. But the practice, ac- 
quiesced in for many years, has taken the question out of the 
realm of practical politics. 

Van Buren's only veto was a pocket veto of a harmless 
resolution which was submitted to him after the final adjourn- 
ment of Congress, and which was not attested as required by 
the Constitution. Even Tyler, having to consider the legisla- 
tion of a Congress angrily hostile to him, vetoed but eight 
bills — two of them pocket vetoes like those of Jackson. That 
is to say the bills were returned to Congress with objections at 
the session following that when they were passed. To be sure 
the vetoes by Tyler were most important, dealing as they did 
with the tariff, the custody of the public revenues, and such 
matters. Five of his vetoes were based on constitutional objec- 
tions. The record of his successors up to the outbreak of the 
Civil War was as follows : Polk vetoed three bills, two of 



232 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

them for constitutional reasons ; Fillmore, none ; Pierce ten, 
eight for constitutional reasons; ^ IJuchanan seven, four for 
constitutional reasons. There is no record of any "pocket" ve- 
toes, in the sense that the President left a bill unsigned and 
said nothing about it. In two instances, declining to sign he 
filed his reasons with the Secretary of State ; in the other cases 
he sent the bill back with his objections at the beginning of the 
next session. 

A summary of the use of the power in the seventy-two years 
from Washington to Lincoln shows a total of forty-seven vetoes, 
of which thirty-one were based on the opinion of the President 
that the proposed measure was unconstitutional. About one 
half of the others were on unimportant matters, involving no 
principle, and the objection was rather to the form than to the 
substance of the bill or resolution returned for reconsideration. 
But the Presidents, on occasion, did not hesitate to take the 
ground that they were entitled to make their judgment as to 
the expediency of a measure a valid " objection " under the 
terms of the Constitution. Tyler claimed that right, in his 
message of September 9, 1841, vetoing the " Fiscal corpora- 
tion" bill. Pierce, in his veto of the French Spoliation Claims 
bill, in February, 1855, entered into an argument on the sub- 
ject : — 

While the Constitution thus confers on the legislative bodies 
the complete power of legislation in all cases, it proceeds, in the 
spirit of justice, to provide for the protection of the responsibility 
of tlie President. It does not compel him to alRx the signature of 
approval to any bill unless it actually have his approbation ; for 
while it requires him to sign if he approve, it, in my judgment, 
imposes i;j)on him the duty of witldioldiug his signature if he do 
not approve. In the execution of his official duty in this respect he 
is not to perform a merely mechanical part, but is to decide and 
act according to conscientious convictions of the rightfulness or 
wrongfulness of the proposed law. In a matter as to which he is 
doubtful in his owi\ mind he may well defer to the majority of the 
two Houses. . . . When, however, he entertains a decisive and fixed 
conclusion, not merely of the unconstitutionality, but of the im- 
projiriety, or injustice in other respects of any measure, if he de- 
clares that he approves it he is false to his oath, and he deliberately 
disregards his constitutional obligation. 

1 The most of Polk's and Pierce's vetoes were aimed at bills which violated 
the Democratic doctrine that the Constitution gave no power to use the pub- 
lic money for purposes of "internal improvement." 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 233 

Enough has been said to show that for more than seventy 
years the Presidents acted upon the principles laid down in the 
Federalist that the veto power was to be employed rarely and 
with caution ; that it was granted chiefly for the defence of the 
Constitution against encroachment ; Ijut that it might also be 
exercised to prevent the enactment of bad laws, and of laws 
inspired by partisanship. 

Lincoln vetoed tAvo bills — one because he had already signed 
one accomplishing the same purpose — and one joint resolution 

— a " pocket" veto — because, in correcting an error in legis- 
lation it left other errors in the same act uncorrected. The ad- 
vent of Mr, Johnson marked the beginning of a new era. He, 
and all Presidents since his time, interpreted the clause giving 
the veto power far more liberally than any of their predecessors. 
They have offset their own judgment against that of Congress 
not merely on great questions involving the public welfare, 
and on disputed constitutional questions, but on trivial matters 
whereon their means of information are not greater or better 
than those at the command of Congress, and whereon their in- 
dividual judgment does not appear to be superior to that of the 
average congressman or senator. Two examples, among a great 
number that might be cited, will suffice. President Harrison, 
in 1890, returned a bill authorizing the city of Ogden, Utah 

— Utah was then a Territory — to increase its municipal debt. 
He thought the measure Avas "unwise," and perhaps it was. 
But is it the duty of a President to busy himself with such 
trumpery matters ? President Cleveland once vetoed a resolu- 
tion providing for the printing of additional copies of a certain 
map of the United States, on the ground that a better map 
would soon be available. The intimate participation of the 
Presidents in legislation in recent times is seen in the follow- 
ing record : President Johnson vetoed 22 bills ; President Grant, 
47; President Hayes, 11; President Arthur, 4; President 
Cleveland, 346,^ beside 12 pocket vetoes ; President Harrison, 
17 ; President McKinley, 5 ; President Roosevelt, 40. It will 
be observed that Mr. Cleveland in his first term vetoed more 
than six times as many bills as were returned by all the Pres- 
idents from 1789 to 1865, — seventy-six years. 

The foregoing review of the history of the veto power indi- 
cates that there has been a distinct change in the theory and 
practice of Presidents. As at present understood it is much 

1 305 in his first term, — most of them pension bills. 



234 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

more than a weapon put in the hands of the Executive to de- 
fend himself against legislative encroachment ; much more than 
a revisory power to prevent violations of the Constitution ; 
much more than a security against laws due to " faction, pre- 
cipitancy, or any impulse unfriendly to the public good." It 
has become a general revisory power, which is applied to all 
the legislation of Congress, Avhether important or not, whether 
concerning public laws or private and personal interests. Some 
Presidents use the power more frequently and more meticu- 
lously than others, but they all use it to the fullest extent, and 
upon the most trivial matter, when so minded. 

The question has been frequently discussed whether the veto 
of the President is a legislative power. Von Hoist says it is 
not, because the Constitution declares that " all legislative 
power herein granted is vested " in Congress. That seems a 
little like begging the question. At any rate it assumes that 
an inconsistency in the Constitution is impossible and unthink- 
able. Is it not reasonable to hold that the veto power as 
Hamilt-on understood it, and as all the Presidents, not even 
excepting Jackson, understood it until after the Civil War, 
was not a legislative power ; but as understood and practised 
to-day it does make the President in effect a third member of 
the legislative body ? 

That question can best be considered in connection with the 
extension of the President's exercise of power in the third 
general direction. The Constitution, in its general enumeration 
of the functions which it assigns to the President, provides : — 

He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of 
the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such 
measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient. 

There was not one word of debate on this clause at any time 
in the Convention of 1787. The Federalist makes no comment 
whatever upon it. Kent merely quotes the clause, without re- 
mark. Story, although he enlarges on the subject, uses color- 
less language : — 

The first part, relative to the President's giving information and 
recommending measures to Congress, is so consonant with the 
structm'B of the executive departments of the colonial and State 
governments, with the usage and practice of other free govern- 
ments, with the general convenience of Congress, and with a due 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDEXCY 235 

share of responsibility on the part of the executive, that it may 
well be presumed to be above all real objection. From the nature 
and duties of the executive department he must possess more ex- 
tensive sources of information, as well in regard to domestic as 
foreign affairs, than can belong to Congress. The true working of 
the laws ; the defects in the nature or ai'rangenients of the general 
systems of trade, finance, and justice ; and the military, naval, and 
civil establishments of the Union, are more readily seen and more 
constantly under the view of the executive than they can possibly 
be of any other department. There is great wisdom, therefore, in 
not merely allowing, but in requiring the President to lay before 
Congress all facts and information which may assist their delib- 
erations ; and in enabling him at once to point out the evil and 
to suggest the remedy. He is thus justly made responsible not 
merely for a due administration of the existing systems, but for 
due diligence and examination into the means for improving 
them. 

It is not intended, in a discussion of the extension of the 
President's power under this clause, any more than in a consid- 
eration of the power of removal from office, and of the veto 
power, to suggest that any President has gone a step further 
than is permissible under a strict literal interpretation of the 
Constitution ; but rather to signalize the extension that has 
taken place, and to note its effect upon the system of govern- 
ment. As in the other two cases tlie change has been gradual 
and has not been seriously opposed by Congress. The enlarge- 
ment of the President's power has, in each case, been at the 
expense of Congress. It was an "encroachment," in the 
sense that it was not what the framers of the Constitutio.i in- 
tended when they defined the limits of the three departments ; 
and yet, as being strictly permissible under the language of 
the Constitution, it could not have been successfully resisted 
by Congress. 

As in the former cases we should naturally begin by detail- 
ing the practice of the earliest Presidents. But in order so to 
illustrate fully the change that has taken place it would be 
necessary to make copious extracts from the messages of those 
Presidents. Suffice it here to say that they put the simplest 
and most natural interpretation on the power conferred on them. 
They gave information of the state of the Union and recom- 
mended measures — which they understood to be subjects — 
for the consideration of Congress. One paragraph from a mes- 
sage of James Madison will indicate what is meant. 



236 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

A revision of the militia laws for the purpose of rendering them 
more systematic and better adapting them to emergencies of the 
war, is at this time particularly desirable. 

It must be left to those who are sufficiently interested in 
the evolution of our government, to study comparatively the 
tone and general character of the recommendations by the 
Presidents in the first fifty years of our national history, and 
in the last twenty years. In the earlier messages the attention 
of Congress was called to certain defects in existing laws, or 
to the need of new laws on other subjects, and it was left to 
the wisdom of Congress to frame enactments on those and other 
points. The modern system is to discuss the defects or the 
requirements in great detail, to argue upon the necessary 
remedy, including safeguards and exceptions, and virtually to 
insist that the case shall be met in a way precisely indicated, 
— if not, that a veto will be launched at the bill agreed upon 
by Congress. 

The practice of recommending to Congress measures in a 
definite form — complete schemes of legislation which must 
be passed as indicated by the executive, or not passed at all, 
save as may be agreed upon between the executive and the 
legislative departments in minor details, which may be the 
subject of compromise — that practice is supplemented by an- 
other. The President now feels it to be his privilege, nay, 
his duty, to bring pressure to bear upon Congress, that is to 
say upon certain congressmen. He invites them to call upon 
him to discuss the terms of the bills which he has recommended. 
He indicates to them what is and what is not admissible. Cer- 
tain senators and representatives are recognized in the two 
Houses as spokesmen for the President. Others, men of the 
President's political party, who oppose a presidential measure 
as a whole, or certain features of it, are invited to the White 
House, and listen to the President's reasons for urging his 
policy. The President is the sole dispenser of public offices. 
Long custom has made it a rule that senators and members of 
the ruling party shall be consulted, shall even be permitted, 
to suggest the names of proper persons, when officers are to 
be appointed in their State or district. There is not the least 
evidence that any President ever intimated even vaguely that 
the privilege of designating officers would be withdrawn or 
curtailed in the case of any senator or representative who 
might oppose the President on any matter on which he had 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 237 

set his heart. Nor, without evidence, is there any reason to 
suspect that any President ever did so. But that does not 
signify that the fear of losing " patronage " plays no part in 
the campaign which modern Presidents carry on to promote 
the success of their policies. Politicians in office are not the 
boldest of men. A senator taking his seat for the first time is 
not above shaping his course with a view to his election again 
six years later. It is not necessary to threaten a man with the 
loss of patronage if he is so constructed as to fear that he will 
lose it if he sets his will against that of the President. 

The executive has still another weapon. He has the power 
to summon Congress in extraordinary session. He can say — 
of course privately and unofficially — that unless Congress 
shall pass this bill or that, he will call the two Houses to meet 
again. Whether this weapon has ever been used or not can- 
not be asserted with confidence. It has been reported, with 
how much or how little truth is unknown. But the use of it 
is possible. It has been employed more than once by another 
executive — the governor of New York. 

Indeed it would not be difficult to sustain the proposition 
that the extension of executive power and influence which we 
are here considering, was imported into Washington by those 
who had filled the executive chair at Albany. The country saw 
little or none of it before the time of Mr. Cleveland, and it did 
not see very much of it then. Mr. Cleveland carried with him 
to the chief place in the national government the New York 
governor's idea of the veto power and of the proper use of it. 
Instances might be cited, if it Avas worth while, of his interpo- 
sition to an unusual extent — which signifies neither an un- 
constitutional nor even an improper extent — to secure the 
enactment of legislation which he desired. And the readiness 
of senators and members to heed the wishes of a President even 
when doing so involves political inconsistency, can be seen in 
the votes of avowed free silver men on the bill to repeal the 
Silver-Purchase act, in 1893. Wliat Mr. Cleveland did occa- 
sionally, Mr. Roosevelt did frequently, almost constantly. 
Congress, the men of his own party, were not in favor of many 
of the measures he wished to be passed. It is not too much to 
say that he extorted their consent to many of them, and en- 
deavored persistently but in vain to obtain their consent to the 
rest. He sent an unprecedented number of special messages in 
advocacy of his policies, many of them covering each but a sin- 



238 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

gle subject, in which the nature and form of the legislation 
desired were elaborated as systematically and with as much 
detail, as would be employed by a senator in a three-days 
speech. He urged members individually and in groups, who 
were invited to meet him in his office at the White House, to 
support those measures. He gave to the press statements of his 
position on pending legislation. 

Did such an exercise of his office constitute him a third 
branch of the legislative department ? That question is not to 
be answered by saying that the early Presidents recommended 
measures to Congress and vetoed objectionable bills passed by 
Congress, yet that they certainly did not constitute themselves 
a coordinate branch of the legislative department, and in fact 
were not ; and that Mr. Roosevelt only did more frequently, 
more in detail, and more by the use of his personal force and 
his official position than they did. Each branch of the legisla- 
ture — in this case Congress — originates measures, considers 
them clause by clause as to their specific provisions, and passes 
or rejects them. When the two branches do not agree upon 
details the matter is decided by a committee of conference. In 
a very real sense a President who presses upon Congress meas- 
ures in which he is interested, in the manner of recent Presid- 
ents, exercises every power in legislation which is conferred 
by the Constitution on the two Houses of Congress. He origin- 
ates measures and gives them definite form. It is true they 
can go no further unless one or the other House of Congress 
takes them up. But neither does a bill introduced in the Sen- 
ate or the House of Representatives, and passed by that body, 
get further unless the other branch agrees to it. The White 
House meetings for the discussion of specific provisions and 
amendments correspond to the committees of conference ; and 
finally the President, by his approval or veto, takes action 
Avhich is identical with the passage or rejection of a bill by one 
of the Houses of Congress. If it be said that the President 
does not interpose in all cases, with respect to all the measures 
acted upon by Congress, before both branches have agreed and 
have sent the bill to him for his approval, it may be replied on 
the other hand that hundreds of House bills are passed by the 
Senate, and hundreds of Senate bills are passed by the House 
of Representatives, in the same perfunctory way that the Pre- 
sident affixes his signature to them after both branches have 
passed them. As a matter of fact, since the veto power has 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 239 

been regarded as a power to be employed whenever the Presid- 
ent's judgment of the wisdom or the expediency of a measure 
contravenes that of Congress — this in connection with his in- 
timate participation in the origination and definite construction 
of measures, and also with his public and personal activity in 
the promotion of those measures — the President is a potent 
factor in legislation, and in effect, though not nominally, as 
really a branch of the legislative department as either House 
of Congress. 

That is the chief development of the presidential office. It 
has taken place without opposition, one may even say without 
observation. Opposition, indeed, would have been in vain, for 
there is no suggestion here that any violation of the language 
of the Constitution has been committed in anything that the 
recent Presidents have done. Whether there has been a viola- 
tion of the spirit of the Constitution is another matter ; and on 
that point the present author goes no further than to say that 
the framers of the Constitution seem not to have anticipated 
the development of the office which we have witnessed, and 
that the Presidents for nearly a hundred years made no move- 
ment toward such an expansion of their office. 

The justification for the change, if it is to be justified, lies 
in the contention that in modern times the executi\ ■ of the 
State or the nation is placed, in popular estimation, and by the 
popular will, in the position of a leader. He is expected to do 
things, and to get things done. Our legislatures and Congress 
are leaderless, in the sense that there are no leaders possessing 
authority, no leaders whom the rank and file of the party fol- 
low. The party system is by no means the perfect machine it 
is in most countries having a parliamentary government. Just 
as we were beginning to develop a system whereby the Speaker 
was the party leader in the House of Representatives, and 
leadership in the Senate was in the hands of the veterans 
who constituted a "steering committee," there was a revolt 
against both. The power of the Speaker was annulled ; and 
first insurgency and then the defeat or death of the Senate 
veterans, abolished leadership altogether and reestablished 
anarchy. 

That is not precisely the argument that has been ofTered to 
justify the assumption of leadership by the executive. Nor has 
any President deemed it necessary or worth while to justify it, 
or even to intimate that he regarded himself as a leader. But 



240 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

it would be idle to deny that modern democracies no less than 
those of the ancient world crave leaders. There is no explana- 
tion of the springing up and growth of the " boss " system, or 
of the power which self-chosen bosses exert in politics, which 
does not rest in the last analysis on the willingness, even the 
eagerness of the multitude to follow strong men, and to seek 
for a new leader though he may not be a strong man, when, 
the old leader dies or retires. 

The principle upon which the assumption of leadership by 
an elected executive in a republican state, founded on a separa- 
tion of the three departments of government, was explained and 
advocated by the Hon. Charles E. Hughes, now a justice of 
the Supreme Court of the United States, in an oration before 
the Phi Beta Kappa of Harvard College, June 30, 1910.1 ]y[r_ 
Hughes was the Governor of New York — another governor of 
that State, it will be observed — and was one who had carried 
the theory of leadership by the executive further, perhaps, than 
any of his predecessors. For he had urged his measures upon 
the legislature in definite form, and when his recommendations 
were disregarded had called the legislature back to Albany and, 
strengthened by public sentiment, had practically forced the 
legislative department to yield to the executive. His argument 
is here given in full : — 

In considering the trend of our democracy we cannot fail to note 
at the present time the tendency to increase the relative import- 
ance and influence of the executive department, the difficulty of 
maintaining party coherence, and the larger measure of direct con- 
trol exercised by the people over the instrumentalities of govern- 
ment. 

The scope of administration has increased rapidly during the 
past few years, not only with respect to the multiplication of the 
demands traditionally associated with it, but also in the provision 
that has been made to secure adequate supervision of activities 
related to the public interest. This extension of administrative 
burdens and facilities would of itself enhance in public estima- 
tion the importance of the chief administrators in Nation and 
State. 

But the aggrandizement of the Executive is not to be accounted 
for simply in this way. It is rather that out of the conflicts be- 
tween competing interests or districts the Executive emerges as 
the representative of the people as a whole. Within the State, for 
example, each representative in the Legislature is endeavoring to 
1 Harvard Graduates'' Magazine, September, 1910. 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 241 

obtain something for his own district in order that he may stand 
well at home. He naturally looks at every general question with 
more regard to his political fortunes than with respect to the opin- 
ion or the interest of the State as a whole. It is well, of course, 
that each district should have its interests well represented. But 
in this rivalry of purely local concerns, a proper perspective with 
regard to matters of general policy is often lost. The general senti- 
ment must find a voice, and in the course of our experience the 
people have come to look to the Chief Executive for that voice. 
By his authority to recommend measures which he believes to be 
of general importance, and by his freedom to support his recom- 
mendations with argument and appeal, he commands a position of 
influence which is not embarrassed by district limitations. Having 
this opportunity, he is necessarily under the obligations which it 
imposes, and when there is a preponderant sentiment in favor of 
a measure or policy believed to be just, the people look to the 
Executive to speak in their behalf and to present that measure 
or policy as cogently as he may within the limits of his constitu- 
tional authority. This is the result of the natural demand for lead- 
ership which the functions of the office afford. It also carries 
with it direct accountability to the people, and in fact is only a 
phase of the tendency toward a greater measure of direct popular 
control. 

The Executive is elected as a candidate of a political party, and 
represents the policies of his party. He is, however, more than a 
party leader. The loyalty of the people, irrespective of party, to- 
w^ard their government, which he in its chief office so largely per- 
sonifies, tends to establish a relation between the Executive and 
the people at large quite distinct from that which he sustains to 
his party. Here again there come into play the influences resulting 
from the extension of administration and the demand on the part 
of the community for proper standards of administrative conduct. 
There is a wide field of executive action in which partisan ques- 
tions have no place. Good administration is impartial, and with 
respect to it the matters as to which our citizens differ are of small 
account compared to those as to which they agree. In the just and 
honorable conduct of public affairs the Executive finds the oppor- 
tunity, as well as the duty, faithfully to represent the common 
sentiment. 

But assuming that improper methods are not used, the Execu- 
tive is strong in meeting the responsibilities thus assigned to him, 
only as he does in fact represent public opinion. As the people are 
entitled to look to him to lead, he is entitled to look to the people 
for support. Upon public opinion his leadership depends, and in 
fair appeal he finds the strongest instrument at his command. 



242 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

Thus, within his constitutional limitations, the influence of the 
Executive broadens and, -while wholesome and beneficial results 
may be secured, he enjoys no arbitrary power, for he is constantly 
under the check of public criticism and the common sentiment, 
which he ignores at his peril. 

The theory is easily understood, and Mr. Justice Hughes 
has put it clearly and cogently. But after all is it not the ar- 
gument for government by a " good despot " ? If despots had 
all been good, mankind would never have invented and estab- 
lished republics. Moreover there is in the passage above quoted 
a certain amount of unproved assumption. "The people have 
come to look to the Chief Executive " to represent the general 
sentiment ? Is it not rather that the Chief Executive has been 
the agent in creating the idea that he is their proper leader ; 
and is not that the way it has always been when a nation was 
preparing itself for a dictator ? 

There seems also to be an assumption which experience does 
not justify in the suggestion that the Chief Executive knows 
by some process of intuition what is the popular sentiment and 
the popular desire, and that, knowing it, he will infallibly en- 
deavor to secure the triumph of that sentiment and the fruition 
of that desire. Have we not had perverse governors and self- 
willed Presidents ? History tells us that Executives have 
often been wofully deceived as to the wishes of their people, 
and that other Executives, strong in their own convictions, 
and confident of their own opinions, have withstood public 
sentiment of which they were fully conscious. Nor is it quite 
true that a governor or President setting himself up as a 
leader "is constantly under the check of public criticism and 
the common sentiments which he ignores at his peril." For he 
has been elected for a definite term, and can continue to defy 
public criticism, unless he is moved to follow, as well as to di- 
rect, public opinion in order to win a reelection. 

It can hardly be denied that the aim of every true republican 
government, and of every government by a constitutional 
monarchy, is to avoid giving great power of leadership into the 
hands of one man. That is so obvious that it requires no argu- 
ment and no citation of examples. If it be admitted it follows 
that " the aggrandizement of the Executive " is a departure 
from the universally accepted policy of free governments, upon 
the road that leads toward despotism. It is not — at all events 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 243 

— in accordance with the noble principle enunciated in the 
Constitution of Massachusetts : — 

In the government of this commonwealth, the legislative depart- 
ment shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or 
either of them; the executive shall never exercise the legislative 
and judicial powers, or either of them ; the judicial shall never ex- 
ercise the legislative and executive powers, or either of them : to 
the end it may be a government of laws and not of men. 

The development of the presidency into a national leader- 
ship has naturally brought about another change — a change 
which had a beginning before the final evolution we have been 
considering, but has been greatly accentuated in most recent 
times. Prior to the time of President Andrew Johnson it is 
doubtful if any President in office ever made a political har- 
angue to 3 party or a miscellaneous audience. All the Presi- 
dents, from Washington onward, were accustomed to travel 
over the country and to make patriotic and non-partisan ad- 
dresses. The sentiment that a candidate for the office, who 
might soon be the President of all parties, should refrain from 
everything of the nature of stump speaking, was also preval- 
ent, but in process of time was rather weakly held. Mr. Blaine, 
in 1884, was the first prominent candidate who made an exten- 
sive stumping tour. Since then, as has been shown in the pre- 
ceding chapters, it has become the regular and ordinary practice 
of candidates to spend nearly all the time between nomination 
and election day, in touring the country, addressing great 
audiences in the cities, and showing themselves to throngs of 
admiring supporters from the rear platform of a railway car at 
every stopping-place. In the canvass of 1912, which is not 
discussed in detail there was an intensive modification of the 
custom, for the candidates for party nomination, including a 
President and an ex-President, engaged in " whirlwind " cam- 
paigns in many States, in competition for the favor of the 
National Conventions. 

It results from the situation that has been created that a 
President possesses and exercises a power transcending that of 
any hereditary monarch of a constitutional government, at the 
same time that by his direct and intimate association with the 
people — "the common people," he may be the most demo- 
cratic of sovereigns. Among all the unique creations of the Amer- 
ican Constitution there is nothing more remarkable than the 
presidency as it exists in the Twentieth Century. 



244 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

Has the presidency reached its ultimate development ? That 
is a question for the future. But if we can take a lesson from 
history the tentative answer must be in the negative. It is the 
teaching of experience that power always tends to its own in- 
crease, at the expense of a weaker power. It has taken cen- 
turies for the British House of Commons to rise from its feeble 
beginnings to its present supremacy over King and Lords, the 
elder estates of the realm. Butj it has risen by successive steps 
and has never lost an advantage once gained. The history of 
the speakership of our own House of Representatives is a case 
closely in point. Originally the Speaker was merely a presiding 
officer without special authority of any sort. It was deemed 
unbecoming in him to show any partisan leaning in his action 
in the chair. But when a strong man was made Speaker he as- 
sumed certain powers, and the House did not resent his so doing. 
His successor, who might not be a strong man, claimed and 
exercised all the authority he inherited. So it went on until 
another Speaker, endowed with a capacity for leadership, and 
with ambition, came to the chair. Thus the Speaker became 
more and more a party leader and a controlling power in the 
House. Henry Clay was the first to take a long step in that 
direction. The progress was not great but was gradual for 
thirty or forty years, mainly because the speakers were not 
generally men of great force. But consider the development of 
the powers of the Speaker under Colfax, Blaine, Carlisle, Reed, 
and Cannon. It was so great that it produced a revolution. 

So it has been with the presidency. Changed but little in 
the first forty years, it was transformed into a potent force in 
the government by Jackson. None of his successors has yielded 
a particle of power which Jackson claimed and exercised. In 
the foregoing pages the successive steps have been outlined by 
which the Presidents have increased their power and influence 
in the government. In no instance has there been a surrender 
of anything previously gained, or a recurrence to earlier stand- 
ards. President Roosevelt carried his conception of the powers 
and prerogatives of his office to the highest point yet reached. 
The administration which is in progress as this is written 
makes use, as a matter of right, of all the powers, all the 
methods by which President Roosevelt imposed his will upon 
the government. 

The Constitution is still adaptable to the emergencies that 
will arise, and there will still be masterful men at the head of 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 245 

affairs. Fortunately there are and will still be wise and fore- 
seeing men who will not suffer the people to be led blindfold, 
and who will guard the country from permitting too large a 
share of the government to fall to any man — for in that 
direction lies the danger to American liberty. 



THE END 



APPENDIX 

CONVENTIONS, CANDIDATES, AND PLATFORMS, 

CANVASS OF 1912 

Socialist-Labor Party Convention, held at New York, 

April 7 

Candidates 
For President, Arthur E. Reimer, of Massachusetts. 
For Vice-President, August Gillhaus, of New York. 

Platform 

The Socialist Labor Party of the United States of America in 
National Convention assembled in New York on April 10, 1912, 
re-affirming its previous platform pronouncements, and in accord 
with the International Socialist Movement, declares : — 

Social conditions, as illustrated by the events that crowded into 
the last four years, have ripened so fast that each and all the prin- 
ciples, hitherto proclaimed by the Socialist Labor Party, and all 
and each the methods, that the Socialist Labor Party has hitherto 
advocated, stand to-day most conspicuously demonstrated. 

The capitalist social system has wrought its own destruction. 
Its leading exponents, the present incumbent in the presidential 
chair, and his "illustrious predecessor," however seemingly at war 
with each other on principles, cannot conceal the identity of their 
political views. The oligarchy proclaimed by the tenets of the 
one, the monarchy proclaimed by the tenets of the other, jointly 
proclaim the conviction of the foremost men in the ruling class 
that the republic of capital is at the end of its tether. 

True to the economic laws from which Socialism proceeds, dom- 
inant wealth has to such an extent concentrated into the hands of 
a select few, the plutocracy, that the lower layers of the capitalist 
class feel driven to the ragged edge, while the large majority of the 
people, the working class, are being submerged. 

True to the sociologic laws, by the light of which Socialism 
reads its forecasts, the plutocracy is breaking through its republic- 
democratic shell and is stretching out its hands towards absolutism 
in government ; the property-holding layers below it are turning 
at bay; the proletariat is awakening to its consciousness of class, 
and thereby to the perception of its historic mission. 



248 APPENDIX 

In the midst of this hurly-burly, all the colors of the rainbow are 
being projected upon the social mists from the prevalent confusion 
of thought. 

From the lower layers of the capitalist class the bolder, yet fool- 
hardy, portion bluntly demands that " the trust be smashed." 

Even if the trust could, it should not be smashed ; even if it 
should, it-cannot. The law of social progress pushes towards a sys- 
tem of production that shall crown the efforts of man, without 
arduous toil, with an abundance of the necessaries for material 
existence, to the end of allowing leisure for mental and spiritual 
expansion. The trust is a mechanical contrivance wherewith to 
solve the problem. To smash the contrivance were to re-introduce 
the days of small-fry competition, and set back the hands on the 
dial of Time. The mere thought is foolhardy. He who under- 
takes the feat might as well brace himself against the cascade of 
Niagara. The cascade of social evolution would whelm him. 

The less bold among the smaller property-holding element pro- 
poses to " curb " the trust with a variety of schemes. The very 
forces of social evolution that propel the development of the trust 
stamp the " curbing " schemes, whether political or economic, as 
childish. They are attempts to hold back a runaway horse by the 
tail. The laws by which the attempt has been tried strew the path 
of the runaway. They are splintered to pieces with its kicks, and 
serve only to furnish a livelihood for the corporation and the anti- 
corporation lawyer. 

From still lower layers of the same property-holding class, social 
layers that have sniffed the breath of Socialism and imagine them- 
selves Socialist, comes the iridescent theory of capturing the trust 
for the people by the ballot only. The " capture of the trust for 
the people " implies the social revolution. To imply the social 
revolution with the ballot only, without the means to enforce the 
ballot's fiat, in case of reaction's attempt to override it, is to fire 
blank cartridges at a foe. It is worse. It is to threaten his exist- ' 
ence without the means to carry out the threat. Threats of revo- 
lution, without provisions to carry them out, result in one of two 
things only — either the leaders are bought out, or the revolution- 
ary class, to which the leaders appeal and which they succeed in 
drawing after themselves, are led like cattle to the shambles. The 
Commune disaster of France stands a monumental warning against 
the blunder. 

An equally iridescent hue of the rainbow is projected from a 
still lower layer, a layer that lies almost wholly within the sub- 
merged class — the theory of capturing the trust for the working 
class with the fist only. The capture of the trust for the people 
implies something else besides revolution. It implies revolution 



APPENDIX 249 

carried on by the masses. For reasons parallel to those that decree 
the day of small-fry competition gone by, mass-revolutionary con- 
spiracy is, to-day, an impossibility. The trust-holding plutocracy 
may successfully put through a conspiracy of physical force. The 
smallness of its numbers makes a successful conspiracy possible on 
its part. The hugeness of the numbers requisite for a revolution 
against the trust-holding plutocracy excludes conspiracy from the 
arsenal of the revolution. The idea of capturing the trust with 
physical force only is a wild chimera. 

Only two programmes — the programme of the plutocracy and 
the programme of the Socialist Labor Party — grasp the situation. 

The political state, another name for the class state, is worn out 
in this the leading capitalist nation of the world, most promin- 
ently. The industrial or socialist state is throbbing for birth. The 
political state, being a class state, is government separate and 
apart from the productive energies of the people ; it is government 
mainly for holding the ruled class in subjection. The industrial 
or socialist state, being the denial of the class state, is government 
that is part and parcel of the productive energies of the people. 

As their functions are different, so are the structures of the two 
states different. 

The structure of the political state contemplates territorial 
" representation " only ; the structure of the industrial state con- 
templates representation of industries, or useful occupations only. 

The economic or industrial evolution has reached that point 
where the political state no longer can maintain itself under the 
forms of democracy. While the plutocracy has relatively shrunk, 
the enemies it has raised against itself have become too numerous 
to be dallied with. What is still worse, obedient to the law of its 
own existence the political state has been forced not merely to 
multiply enemies against itself; it has been forced to recruit and 
group the bulk of these enemies, the revolutionary bulk, at that. 

The working class of the land, the historically revolutionary 
element, is grouped by the leading occupations, agricultural as 
well as industrial, in such manner that the " autonomous craft 
union," one time the palladium of the workers, has become a 
harmless scarecrow upon which the capitalist birds roost at ease, 
while the industrial unions cast ahead of them the constituencies 
of the government of the future, and, jointly, point to the indus- 
trial state. 

Nor yet is this all. Not only has the political state raised its 
own enemies ; not only has itself multiplied them ; not only has 
itself recruited and drilled them ; not only has itself grouped 
them into shape and form to succeed it ; it is, furthermore, driven 
by its inherent necessities, prodding on the revolutionary class by 



250 APPENDIX 

digging ever more fiercely into its flanks the harpoon of exploita- 
tion. 

With the purchasing power of wages sinking to ever lower 
depths ; with certainty of work hanging on ever slenderer threads ; 
with an ever more gigantically swelling army of the unemployed ; 
with the need of profits pressing the plutocracy harder and harder 
recklessly to squander the workers' limbs and life ; what with all 
this and the parallel process of merging the workers of all indus- 
tries into one interdependent solid mass, the final break-up is 
rendered inevitable, and at hand. 

No wild schemes and no rainbow-chasing will stead in the ap- 
proaching emergency. The plutocracy knows this — and so does 
the Socialist Labor Party — and logical is the programme of each. 

The programme of the plutocracy is feudalic Autocracy, trans- 
lated into capitalism. Where a social revolution is pending, and, 
for whatever reason, is not enforced, reaction is the alternative. 

The programme of the Socialist Labor Party is revolution — 
the Industrial or Socialist Republic, the social order where the 
political state is overthrown ; where the Congress of the land con- 
sists of the representatives of the useful occupations of the land ; 
where, accordingly, government is an essential factor in produc- 
tion ; where the blessings to man that the trust is instinct with 
are freed from the trammels of the private ownership that now 
turn the potential blessings into a curse ; where, accordingly 
abundance can be the patrimony of all who work ; and the shackles 
of wage slavery are no more. 

In keeping with the goals of the different programmes are the 
means for their execution. 

The means in contemplation by reaction is the bayonet. To this 
end reaction is seeking, by means of the police spy and other 
agencies, to lash the proletariat into acts of violence that may give 
a color to the resort to the bayonet. By its manoeuvres, it is egging 
the working class on to deeds of fury. The capitalist press echoes 
the policy, while the pure and simple political Socialist party 
press, generally, is snared into the trap. 

On the contrary, the means firmly adhered to by the Socialist 
Labor Party is the constitutional method of political action, backed 
by the industrially and class-consciously organized proletariat, to 
the exclusion of anarchy and all that thereby hangs. 

At such a critical period in the nation's existence the Socialist 
Labor Party calls upon the working class of America, more delib- 
erately serious than ever before, to rally at the polls under the 
Party's banner. And the Party also calls upon all intelligent citi- 
zens to place themselves squarely upon the ground of working-class 
interests, and join us in this mighty and noble work of human 



APPENDIX 251 

emancipation, so that we may put summary end to the existing bar- 
barous class conflict by placing the land and all the means of pro- 
duction, transportation, and distribution into the hands of the people 
as a collective body, and substituting for the present state of planless 
production, industrial war, and social disorder, the Socialist or In- 
dustrial Commonwealth — a commonwealth in which every worker 
shall have the free exercise and full benefit of his faculties, multi- 
plied by all the modern factors of civilization. 



Socialist Party Convention, held at Indianapolis, May 12 

Candidates 

For President, Eugene V. Debs, of Illinois. 
For Vice-President, Emil Seidel, of Wisconsin. 

Platform 

The representatives of the Socialist Party, in National Conven- 
tion at Indianapolis, declare that the capitalist system has outgrown 
its historical function, and has become utterly incapable of meeting 
the problems now confronting society. We denounce this outgrown 
system as incompetent and corrupt and the source of unspeakable 
misery and suffering to the whole working class. 

Under this system the industrial equipment of the Nation has 
passed into the absolute control of plutocracy, which exacts an an- 
nual tribute of hundreds of millions of dollars from the producers. 
Unafraid of any organized resistance, it stretches out its greedy hands 
over the still undeveloped resources of the Nation — the land, the 
mines, the forests and the water-powers of every State in the 
Union. 

In spite of the multiplication of labor-saving machines and im- 
proved methods in industry, which cheapen the cost of production, 
the share of the producers grows ever less, and the prices of all the 
necessities of life steadily increase. The boasted prosperity of this 
Nation is for the owning class alone. To the rest it means only 
greater hardship and misery. The high cost of living is felt in 
every home. Millions of wage-workers have seen the purchasing 
power of their wages decrease until life has become a desperate 
battle for mere existence. 

]\Iultitudes of unemployed walk the streets of our cities or trudge 
from State to State awaiting the will of the masters to move the 
wheels of industry. 

The farmers in every State are plundered by the increasing 
prices exacted for tools and machinery and by extortionate rent, 
freight rates, and storage charges. 



252 APPENDIX 

Capitalist concentration is mercilessly crushing the class of small 
business men and driving its members into the ranks of property- 
less wage-workers. The overwhelming majority of the people of 
America are being forced under a yoke of bondage by this soul- 
less industrial despotism. 

It is this capitalist system that is responsible for the increasing 
burden of armaments, the poverty, slums, child labor, most of the 
insanity, crime, and prostitution, and much of the disease that 
afflicts mankind. 

Under this system the working class is exposed to poisonous con- 
ditions, to frightful and needless perils to life and limb, is walled 
around with court decisions, injunctions, and unjust laws, and is 
preyed upon incessantly for the benefit of the controlling oligarchy 
of wealth. Under it, also, the children of the working class are 
doomed to ignorance, drudging toil, and darkened lives. 

In the face of these evils, so manifest that all thoughtful ob- 
servers are appalled at them, the legislative representatives of the 
Republican and Democratic parties remain the faithful servants of 
the oppressors. Measures designed to secure to the wage-earners of 
this Nation as humane and just treatment as is already enjoyed by 
the wage-earners of all other civilized nations have been smothered 
in committee without debate, and laws ostensibly designed to bring 
relief to the farmers and general consumers are juggled and trans- 
formed into instruments for the exaction of further tribute. The 
growing unrest under oppression has driven these two old parties to 
the enactment of a variety of regulative measures, none of which 
has limited in any appreciable degree the power of the plutocracy, 
and some of which have been converted into means for increasing 
that power. Anti-trust laws, railroad restrictions and regulations, 
with the prosecutions, indictments, and investigations based upon 
such legislation, have proved to be utterly futile and ridiculous. 

Nor has this plutocracy been seriously restrained or even threat- 
ened by any Republican or Democratic Executive. It has continued 
to grow in power and insolence alike under the administrations of 
Cleveland, McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft. 

In addition to this legislative juggling and this executive con- 
nivance, the courts of America have sanctioned and strengthened 
the hold of this plutocracy as the Dred Scott and other decisions 
strengthened the slave-power before the Civil War. They have 
been used as instruments for the oppression of the working class 
and for the suppression of free speech and free assembly. 

We declare, therefore, that the longer sufferance of these condi- 
tions is impossible, and we purpose to end them all. We declare 
them to be the product of the present system in which industry is 
carried on for private greed, instead of for the welfare of society. 



APPENDIX 253 

We declare, furthermore, that for these evils there will be and can 
be no remedy and no substantial relief except through Socialism, 
under which industry will be carried on for the common good, 
and every worker receive the full social value of the wealth he 
creates. 

Society is divided into warring groups and classes, based upon 
material interests. Fundamentally, this struggle is a conflict be- 
tween the two main classes, one of which, the capitalist class, owns 
the means of production, and the other, the working class, must 
use these means of production on terms dictated by the owners. 

The capitalist class, though few in numbers, absolutely con- 
trols the government — legislative, executive, and judicial. This 
class owns the machinery of gathering and disseminating news 
through its organized press. It subsidizes seats of learning — the 
colleges and schools — and even religious and moral agencies. It 
has also the added prestige which established customs give to any 
order of society, right or wrong. 

The working class, which includes all those who are forced to 
work for a living, whether by hand or brain, in shop, mine, or on 
the soil, vastly outnumbers the capitalist class. Lacking effective 
organization and class solidarity, this class is unable to enforce its 
will. Given such class solidarity and effective organization, the 
workers will have the power to make all laws and control all in- 
dustry in their own interest. 

Ail political parties are the expression of economic class inter- 
ests. All other parties than the Socialist Party represent one or 
another group of the ruling capitalist class. Their political con- 
flicts reflect merely superficial rivalries between competing capital- 
ist groups. However they result, these conflicts have no issue of 
real value to the workers. Whether the Democrats or Republicans 
win politically, it is the capitalist class that is victorious eco- 
nomically. 

The Socialist Party is the political expression of the economic 
interests of the workers. Its defeats have been their defeats and 
its victories their victories. It is a party founded on the science 
and laws of social development. It proposes that, since all social 
necessities to-day are socially produced, the means of their pro- 
duction and distribution shall be socially owned and democratically 
controlled. 

In the face of the economic and political aggressions of the capi- 
talist class, the only reliance left the workers is that of their eco- 
nomic organizations and their political power. By the intelligent 
and class-conscious use of these, they may resist successfully the 
capitalist class, break the fetters of wage-slavery, and fit themselves 
for the future society which is to displace the capitalist system. 



254 APPENDIX 

The Socialist Party appreciates the full significance of class organ- 
ization and urges the wage-earners, the working farmers, and all 
other useful workers everywhere to organize for economic and po- 
litical action, and we pledge ourselves to support the toilers of the 
fields as well as those in the shops, factories, and mines of the 
Nation in their struggles for economic justice. 

In the defeat or victory of the working class party in this new 
struggle for freedom lies the defeat or triumph of the common 
people of all economic groups, as well as the failure or the triumph 
of popular government. Thus the Socialist Party is the party of the 
present-day revolution, which marks the transition from economic 
individualism to Socialism, from wage-slavery to free cooperation, 
from capitalist oligarchy to industrial democracy. 

As measures calculated to strengthen the working class in its 
fight for the realization of its ultimate aim, the Cooperative Com- 
monwealth, and to increase its power of resistance against capital- 
ist oppression, we advocate and pledge ourselves and our elected 
officers to the following programme : — 

1. The collective ownership and democratic management of rail- 
roads, wire and wireless telegraphs and telephones, express services, 
steamboat lines, and all other social means of transportation and 
communication and of all large-scale industries. 

2. The immediate acquirement by the municipalities, the States, 
or the Federal Government of all grain elevators, stockyards, 
storage warehouses, and other distributing agencies, in order to 
reduce the present extortionate cost of living. 

3. The extension of the public domain to include mines, quar- 
ries, oil wells, forests, and water-power. 

4. The further conservation and development of natural re- 
sources for the use and benefit of all the people : — 

(rt) By scientific forestation and timber protection ; 
(ft) by the reclamation of arid and swamp tracts ; 

(c) by the storage of flood waters and the utilization of water- 
power ; 

(d) by the stoppage of the present extravagant waste of the soil 
and of the products of mines and oil wells ; 

(e) by the development of highway and waterway systems. 

5. The collective ownership of land wherever practicable, and 
in cases where such ownership is impracticable, the appropriation 
by taxation of the annual rental value of all land held for specu- 
lation or exploitation. 

6. The collective ownership and democratic management of the 
banking and currency system. 

The immediate government relief of the unemployed by the ex- 



APPENDIX 255 

tension of all useful public works. All persons employed on such 
works to be engaged directly by the Government under a work 
day of not more than eight hours and at not less than the prevail- 
ing union wages. The Government also to establish employment 
bureaus ; to lend money to States and municipalities without in- 
terest for the purpose of carrying on public works, and to take such 
other measures within its power as will lessen the widespread mis- 
ery of the workers caused by the misrule of the capitalist class. 

The conservation of human resources, particularly of the lives 
and well-being of the workers and their families : — 

1. By shortening the work day in keeping with the increased 
productiveness of machinery. 

2. By securing to every worker a rest period of not less than a 
day and a half in each week. 

3. By securing a more effective inspection of workshops, fac- 
tories, and mines. 

4. By forbidding the employment of children under sixteen 
years of age. 

5. By the cooperative organization of the industries in the fed- 
eral penitentiaries for the benefit of the convicts and their de- 
pendents. 

6. By forbidding the interstate transportation of the products 
of child labor, of convict labor, and of all uninspected factories 
and mines. 

7. By abolishing the profit system in government work, and sub- 
stituting either the direct hire of labor or the awarding of contracts 
to cooperative groups of workers. 

8. By establishing minimum wage-scales. 

By abolishing official charity and substituting a non-contributory 
system of old-age pensions, a general system of insurance by the 
State of all its members against unemployment and invalidism, 
and a system of compulsory insurance by employers of their work- 
ers, without cost to the latter, against industrial diseases, accidents, 
and death. 

1. The absolute freedom of press, speech, and assemblage. 

2. The adoption of a graduated income tax, the increase of the 
rates of the present corporation tax, and the extension of inherit- 
ance taxes, graduated in proportion to the value of the estate and 
to nearness of kin — the proceeds of these taxes to be employed in 
the socialization of industry. 

3. The abolition of the monopoly ownership of patents and the 
substitution of collective ownership, with direct rewards to invent- 
ors by premiums or royalties. 

4. Unrestricted and equal suffrage for men and women. 



256 APPENDIX 

5. The adoption of the initiative, referendum, and recall, and 
of proportional representation, nationally as well as locally. 

6. The abolition of the Senate and of the veto power of the 
President. 

7. The election of the President and the Vice-President by direct 
vote of the people. 

8. The abolition of the power usurped by the Supreme Court of 
the United States to pass upon the constitutionality of the legisla- 
tion enacted by Congress. National laws to be repealed only by act 
of Congress or by a referendum vote of the whole people. 

9. The abolition of the present restrictions upon the amendment 
of the Constitution, so that that instrument may be made amend- 
able by a majority of the voters in the country. 

10. The granting of the right of suffrage in the District of 
Columbia with representation in Congress and a democratic form 
of municipal government for purely local affairs. 

11. The extension of democratic government to all United States 
territory. 

12. The enactment of further measures for general education 
and particularly for vocational education in useful pursuits. The 
Bureau of Education to be made a department. 

13. The enactment of further measures for the conservation of 
health. The creation of an independent bureau of health, with 
such restrictions as will secure full liberty to all schools of practice. 

14. The separation of the present Bureau of Labor from the 
Department of Commerce and Labor and its elevation to the rank 
of a department. 

15. The abolition of all federal district courts and the United 
States Circuit Courts of Appeals. State courts to have jurisdiction 
in all cases arising between citizens of the several States and for- 
eign corporations. The election of all judges for short terms. 

16. The immediate curbing of the power of the courts to issue 
injunctions. 

17. The free administration of the law. 

18. The calling of a convention for the revision of the Constitu- 
tion of the United States. 

Such measures of relief as we may be able to force from cap- 
italism are but a preparation of the workers to seize the whole 
powers of government, in order that they may thereby lay hold of 
the whole system of socialized industry and thus come to their 
rightful inheritance. 

Whereas, Joseph J. Ettor and Arthur Giovannetti, represen- 
tatives of the textile workers of Lawrence, Massachusetts, are 
charged with being accessories before the fact, to the murder of 
Anna La Pezzi, an Italian woman striker, which occurred during 



APPENDIX 257 

an assault made on a peaceful body of strikers on January 29th, 
by armed police and thugs of the Woolen Trust ; and 

Whereas, the testimony of a score of eye-witnesses before the 
examining magistrate showed conclusively that Anna La Pezzi 
■was shot by a policeman, who was identified by eye-witnesses at 
the preliminary hearing ; and 

Whereas, The prosecution admits that neither Ettor nor Gio- 
vannetti was present at the scene of the provoked riot, but claim 
that they, by their speeches, incited, counseled, and commanded 
violence and rioting, and as a result a homicide took place, thus 
seeking to establish a precedent which is vicious and infamous ; 
and 

Whereas, Ettor and Giovannetti loyally fought the Woolen 
Trust, bringing a substantial increase in wages to over a quarter 
of a million of textile workers, thereby causing a loss of revenue 
of $15,000,000 per year to the mill-owners of New England ; there- 
fore be it 

Resolved, By the Socialist Party, in National Convention assem- 
bled, that the indictment and trial of Ettor and Giovannetti is an 
outrageous and inhuman attempt on the part of the Woolen Trust 
plutocracy and their hirelings, in retaliation for the successful re- 
volt of the mill slaves of New England, to destroy the right to 
strike and the right of free speech and assembly of wage-earners 
and to establish a precedent, base in its conception, vicious in its 
enforcement, and detrimental to the entire working class of Amer- 
ica, and destructive to fundamental civil rights ; and further 

Resolved, That the National Executive Committee be instructed 
to appropriate immediately $500 for the defense of Ettor and Gio- 
vannetti and that we call upon the Locals of the Socialist Party 
to form defense funds for this purpose to be forwarded through 
the National Headquarters. 

Whereas, The railways and the various commercial associa- 
tions of the Pacific Coast, by false advertisements, have induced 
workingmen to come West, thereby creating a large army of the 
unemployed ; be it 

Resolved, That we request that the greatest publicity be given to 
this matter through the Socialist press and party organizations, as 
a warning to the workers of the Eastern and Central States to stay 
away from the Pacific Coast, since labor conditions there are in- 
tolerable. 

Whereas, The Party has during the past year secured control of 
a number of cities, thus becoming the employer of many workers; 

Whereas, The Party realizes that intelligent administration of 
government involves the organization of the workers in all depart- 
ments ; 



258 APPENDIX 

Whereas, The object of the Socialist Party is to secure for all 
workers not only the full product of their labor but a voice in de- 
termining their conditions of work ; therefore be it 

Resolved, That the Party adopt as a policy to be observed by its 
representatives in office the organization of workers in all depart- 
ments under Socialist control so that each department may obtain 
an organized expression of the workers' point of view on adminis- 
trative methods and conditions of work. 

Whereas, In the class struggle the military is often the first 
and always the last resort of the ruling class ; and 

Whereas, The army, the navy, the militia, and the police offer 
a fertile field for the dissemination of Socialist teaching ; and 

Whereas, The growth of Socialist thought among the armed 
defenders of capitalism tends to reduce the power of the ruling 
class to rule and outrage the working class, and thus to end the 
oppression and violence that labor suffers ; be it 

Resolved, That the National Executive Committee be instructed 
to secure the services of such a comrade or comrades as have made 
a special study of war and militarism, and that such comrade or 
comrades prepare special appropriate leaflets to distribute among 
soldiers, sailors, militia, and police. 

Resolved, That the National Executive Committee publish such 
leaflets and pamphlets and offer for sale through the usual chan- 
nels, and that in addition an organized effort be made for the 
distribution of such leaflets among all the armed defenders of 
capitalist-class rule and among all military organizations and all 
government homes for disabled soldiers and sailors. 

Whereas, A fertile and promising field for Socialist education 
is found among the young people, both because it reaches persons 
with unprejudiced and unbiased minds, and because it yields the 
most valuable recruits for the Socialist Movement ; and, 

Whereas, If we can gain the ear of a majority of the youth of 
our country, the future will be ours, with the passing of the pres- 
ent generation. Therefore, be it 

Resolved, That we recommend and urge our Locals to form, en- 
courage, and assist Young Socialist Leagues and Young People's 
Clubs for the purpose of educating our youth in the principles of 
Socialism, and that this education be combined with social pleas- 
ures and athletic exercises ; and further 

Resolved, That we recommend to the National Executive Com- 
mittee to give such aid and encouragement to this work as may 
seem to it best calculated to further the spread of Socialism among 
the youth of the United States. 

Whereas, An increasing number of women are taking part 
in industrial activity, so that they are to-day an important factor in 



APPENDIX 259 

economics and social life, and are thereby qualifying themselves 
for participation in political administration ; therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the Socialist Party deems women entitled equally 
with men to be nominated for and elected to public office, so that 
they may help manage our common affairs. 

Whereas, the capitalist class is making determined and per- 
sistent efforts to use the public schools for the military training 
of children and for the inculcation of the military spirit ; there- 
fore, be it 

Resolved, That we are opposed to all efforts to introduce mili- 
tary training into the public schools, and that we recommend the 
introduction into our public school system of a thorough and pro- 
gressive course in physical culture ; and 

Resolved, That we request the National Executive Committee to 
suggest plans and programmes along this line and furnish these 
to the party membership, together with such advice in the matter 
as may be helpful to the party membership in introducing such a 
system into our public schools. 

The manufacture and sale for profit of intoxicating and adul- 
terated liquors leads directly to many serious social evils. In- 
temperance in the use of alcoholic liquors weakens the physical, 
mental, and moral powers. 

We hold, therefore, that any excessive indulgence in intoxi- 
cating liquors by members of the working class is a serious ob- 
stacle to the triumph of our class, since it impairs the vigor of the 
fighters in the political and economic struggle, and we urge the 
members of the working class to avoid any indulgence which might 
impair their ability to wage a successful political and economic 
struggle, and so hinder the progi'ess of the movement for their 
emancipation. 

We do not believe that the evils of alcoholism can be eradicated 
by repressive measures or any extension of the police powers of 
the capitalist state — alcoholism is a disease of which capitalism 
is the chief cause. Poverty, overwork, and overworry necessarily 
result in intemperance on the part of the victims. To abolish the 
wage-system with all its evils is the surest way to eliminate the 
evils of alcoholism and the traffic in intoxicating liquor. 

Whereas, The Dillingham Bill passed by the United States 
Senate would bar from this country many political refugees under 
a hollow distinction that some political crimes involve " moral 
turpitude " ; and, 

Whereas, Such distinctions would destroy the political asylum, 
heretofore maintained in this country, for revolutionists of all 
lands, as the officials of one country cannot sit in judgment over the 
methods of political strife and civil war in another country ; and 



260 APPENDIX 

Whereas, Senator Root's amendment providing for deporta- 
tion without trial of " any alien who shall take advantage of his 
residence in the United States to conspire with others for the vio- 
lent overthrow of a foreign government, recognized by the United 
States," passed by the United States Senate, without a dissenting 
vote, seeks to establish in this country a passport system for aliens, 
thus destroying at once the principle that it is the right of every 
people to overthrow by force, if necessary, a despotic government, 
declared in the Declaration of Independence, and the principle of 
individual freedom from police supervision, heretofore held sacred 
in this country ; therefore, be it 

Resolved, By the Socialist Party at Indianapolis, Indiana, on 
the 16th day of May, 1912, in National Convention assembled, that 
we protest against this attempt of the United States Senate to 
turn the government of this country into a detective agency for 
foreign governments in their persecution of men and women fight- 
ing for the freedom of their native lands ; be it further 

Resolved, That we demand that the United States shall remain, 
as heretofore, an asylum for political refugees from all countries, 
without any distinction as to political crimes or supervision of 
political refugees ; and be it further 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to the 
President of the United States, Speaker of the House of Represen- 
tatives, and to every member of the House Committee on Immi- 
gration and Natm-alization. 

Whereas, The courts in charge of naturalization have shown 
a disposition to enlarge the interpretation of the rule which pro- 
hibits the naturalization of avowed anarchists, so that any one 
who disbelieves in the present system of society has been held to 
be ineligible to become an American citizen ; and 

Whereas, This tendency found a most aggravated expression 
in the revocation of the citizenship of Leonard Olsson, a Socialist, 
at Tacoma, Washington, by Judge Cornelius Hanford ; therefore, 
be it 

Resolved, That the Socialist Party in Convention assembled 
enters its most emphatic protest against such procedure, and 
points out that the denial of the right of citizenship to foreign- 
born applicants, not anarchists, because they hold progressive 
ideas, inevitably forces those new voters into the ranks of those 
who believe in force and violence ; and be it further 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the Secre- 
tary of Commerce and Labor, and that we demand of him that 
an order be issued to the effect that this rule in naturalization 
cases shall be strictly interpreted and not enlarged to include per- 
sons who simply hold Socialistic or progressive social ideas. 



APPENDIX 261 

Republican Party Convention, held at Chicago, June 18. 

Candidates. 
For President, William H. Taft, of Ohio. 
For Vice-President, James S. Sherman, of New York. 

Platform. 

The Kepublican Party, assembled by its representatives in Na- 
tional Convention, declares its unchanging faith in government of 
the people, by the people, for the people. We renew our allegiance 
to the principles of the Republican Party and our devotion to the 
cause of republican institutions established by the fathers. 

It is appropriate that we should now recall with a sense of 
veneration and gratitude the name of our first great leader, who 
was nominated in this city, and whose lofty principles and superb 
devotion to his country are an inspiration to the party he honored 
— Abraham Lincoln. In the present state of public affairs we 
should be inspired by his broad statesmanship and by his toler- 
ant spirit toward men. 

The Republican Party looks back on its record with pride and 
satisfaction, and forward to its new responsibilities with hope and 
confidence. Its achievements in government constitute the most 
luminous pages in our history. Our greatest national advance has 
been made during the years of its ascendency in public affairs. It 
has been, genuinely and always a party of progress ; it has never 
been either stationary or reactionary. It has gone from the fulfil- 
ment of one great pledge to the fulfilment of another in response 
to the public need and to the popular will. 

We believe in our self-controlled representative democracy, which 
is a government of laws, not of men, and in which order is the 
prerequisite of progress. 

The principles of constitutional government, which make pro- 
vision for orderly and effective expression of the popular will, for 
the protection of civil liberty and the rights of men, and for the 
interpretation of the law by an untrammeled and independent ju- 
diciary, have proved themselves capable of sustaining the struc- 
ture of a government which, after more than a century of develop- 
ment, embraces 100,000,000 of people, scattered over a wide and 
diverse territory, but bound by common purpose, common ideals, 
and common affection to the Constitution of the United States. 

Under the Constitution and the principles asserted and vitalized 
by it, the United States has grown to be one of the great civilized 
and civilizing powers of the earth. It offers a home and an oppor- 
tunity to the ambitious and the industrious from other lands. 
Resting upon the broad basis of a people's confidence and a peo- 



262 APPENDIX 

pie's support, and managed by the people themselves, the Govern- 
ment of the United States will meet the problems of the future as 
satisfactorily as it has solved those of the past. 

The Republican Party is now, as always, a party of advanced 
and constructive statesmanship. It is prepared to go forward with 
the solution of those new questions which social, economic, and 
political development have brought into the forefront of the Na- 
tion's interest. It will strive, not only in the Nation but in the 
several States, to enact the necessary legislation to safeguard the 
public health ; to limit effectively the labor of women and child- 
ren ; to protect wage-earners engaged in dangerous occupations ; 
to enact comprehensive and generous workmen's compensation 
laws in place of the present wasteful and unjust system of employ- 
ers' liability ; and in all possible ways to satisfy the just demand 
of the people for the study and solution of the complex and con- 
stantly changing problems of social welfare. 

In dealing with these questions it is important that the rights 
of every individual to the freest possible development of his own 
powers and resources and to the control of his own justly acquired 
property, so far as those are compatible with the rights of others, 
shall not be interfered with or destroyed. The social and political 
structure of the United States rests upon the civil liberty of the 
individual ; and for the protection of that liberty the people have 
wisely, in the national and state institutions, put definite limita- 
tions upon themselves and upon their governmental officers and 
agencies. To enforce these limitations, to secure the orderly and 
coherent exercise of governmental powers, and to protect the rights 
of even the humblest and least favored individual are the function 
of independent courts of justice. 

The Republican Party reaffirms its intention to uphold at all 
times the authority and integrity of the courts, both state and 
federal, and it will ever insist that their powers to enforce their 
process and to protect life, liberty, and property shall be preserved 
inviolate. An orderly method is provided under our system of gov- 
ernment by which the people may, when they choose, alter or 
amend the constitutional provisions which underlie that govern- 
ment. Until these constitutional provisions are so altered or 
amended, in orderly fashion, it is the duty of the courts to see to 
it that when challenged they are enforced. 

That the courts, both federal and state, may bear the heavy bur- 
den laid upon them to the complete satisfaction of public opinion, 
we favor legislation to prevent long delays and the tedious and 
costly appeals which have so often amounted to a denial of justice 
in civil cases and to a failure to protect the public at large in 
criminal cases. 



APPENDIX 263 

Since the responsibility of the judiciary is so great, the standards 
of judicial action must be always and everywhere above suspicion 
and reproach. While we regard the recall of judges as unnecessary 
and unwise, we favor such action as may be necessary to simplify 
the process by which any judge who is found to be derelict in his 
duty may be removed from office. 

Together with peaceful and orderly development at home, the 
Republican Party earnestly favors all measures for the establish- 
ment and protection of the peace of the world and for the develop- 
ment of closer relations between the various nations of the earth. 
It believes most earnestly in the peaceful settlement of interna- 
tional disputes and in the reference of all justiciable controversies 
between nations to an international court of justice. 

The Republican Party is opposed to special privilege and to mo- 
nopoly. It placed upon the statute book the Interstate Commerce 
Act of 1887, and the important amendments thereto, and the Anti- 
Trust Act of 1890, and it has consistently and successfully enforced 
the provisions of these laws. It will take no backward step to per- 
mit the reestablishment in anj'^ degree of conditions which were 
intolerable. 

Experience makes it plain that the business of the country may 
be carried on without fear or without disturbance and at the same 
time without resort to practices which are abhorrent to the com- 
mon sense of justice. The Republican Party favors the enactment 
of legislation supplementary to the existing Anti-Trust Act, which 
will define as criminal offenses those specific acts that uniformly 
mark attempts to restrain and to monopolize trade, to the end that 
those who honestly intend to obey the law may have a guide for 
their action, and that those who aim to violate the law may the 
more surely be punished. 

The same certainty should be given to the law prohibiting com- 
binations and monopolies that characterizes other provisions of 
commercial law, in order that no part of the field of business op- 
portunity may be restricted by monopoly or combination, that 
business success honorably achieved may not be converted into 
crime, and that the right of every man to acquire commodities, 
and particularly the necessaries of life, in an open market, unin- 
fluenced by the manipulation of trust or combination, may be pre- 
served. 

In the enforcement and administration of federal laws governing 
interstate commerce and enterprises impressed with a public use 
engaged therein, there is much that may be committed to a federal 
trade commission, thus placing in the hands of an administrative 
board many of the functions now necessarily exercised by the 
courts. This will promote promptness in the administration of 



264 APPENDIX 

the law and avoid delays and technicalities incident to court 
procedure. 

We reaffirm our belief in a protective tariff. The Republican 
tariff policy has been of the greatest benefit to the country, de- 
veloping our resources, diversifying our industries, and protecting 
our workmen against competition with cheaper labor abroad, thus 
establishing for our wage-earners the American standard of living. 
The protective tariff is so woven into the fabric of our industrial 
and agricultural life that to substitute for it a tariff for revenue 
only would destroy many industries and throw millions of our 
people out of employment. The products of the farm and of the 
mine should receive the same measure of protection as other pro- 
ducts of American labor. 

We hold that the import duties should be high enough, while 
yielding a sufficient revenue, to protect adequately American indus- 
tries and wages. Some of the existing import duties are too high 
and should be reduced. Readjustment should be made from time 
to time to conform to changing conditions and to reduce excessive 
rates, but without injury to any American industry. To accomplish 
this correct information is indispensable. This information can 
best be obtained by an expert commission, as the large volume of 
useful facts contained in the recent reports of the Tariff Board 
has demonstrated. 

The pronounced feature of modern industrial life is its enorm- 
ous diversification. To apply tariff rates justly to these changing 
conditions requires closer study and more scientific methods than 
ever before. The Republican Party has shown by its creation of a 
Tariff' Board its recognition of this situation and its determination 
to be equal to it. We condemn the Democratic Party for its fail- 
ure either to provide funds for the continuance of this board or to 
make some other provision for securing the information requisite 
for intelligent tariff legislation. We protest against the Demo- 
cratic method of legislating on these vitally important subjects 
without careful investigation. 

We condemn the Democratic tariff bills passed by the House of 
Representatives of the Sixty-second Congress as sectional, as in- 
jurious to the public credit, and as destructive of business en- 
terprise. 

The steadily increasing cost of living has become a matter not 
only of national but of world-wide concern. The fact that it is not 
due to the protective tariff system is evidenced by the existence of 
similar conditions in countries which have a tariff policy different 
from our own, as well as by the fact that the cost of living has in- 
creased while rates of duty have remained stationary or been re- 
duced. The Republican Party will support a prompt scientific 



APPENDIX 265 

inquiry into the causes which are operative, both in the United 
States and elsewhere, to increase the cost of living. When the ex- 
act facts are known, it will take the necessary steps to remove any 
abuses that may be found to exist in order that the cost of the 
food, clothing, and shelter of the people may in no way be unduly 
or artificially increased. 

The Republican Party has always stood for a sound currency 
and for safe banking methods. It is responsible for the resumption 
of specie payments, and for tlie establishment of the gold standard. 
It is committed to the progressive development of our banking 
and currency systems. Our banking arrangements to-day need 
further revision to meet the requirements of current conditions. 
We need measures which will prevent the recurrence of money 
panics and financial disturbances and which will promote the 
prosperity of business and the welfare of labor by producing 
constant employment. We need better currency facilities for the 
movement of crops in the West and South. We need banking ar- 
rangements under American auspices for the encouragement and 
better conduct of our foreign trade. In attaining these ends, the 
independence of individual banks, whether organized under na- 
tional or state charters, must be carefully protected and our bank- 
ing and currency system must be safeguarded from any possibility 
of domination by sectional, financial, or political interests. 

It is of great importance to the social and economic welfare of 
this country that its farmers have facilities for borrowing easily 
and cheaply the money they need to increase the productivity of 
their land. It is as important that financial machinery be provided 
to supply the demand of farmers for ci'edit as it is that the bank- 
ing and currency systems be reformed in the interests of general 
business. Therefore, we recommend and urge an authoritative 
investigation of agricultural credit societies and corporations in 
other countries, and the passage of state and federal laws for the 
establishment and capable supervision of organizations having for 
their purpose the loaning of funds to farmers. 

We reaffirm our adherence to the principle of appointment to 
public office based on proved fitness, and tenure during good be- 
havior and efficiency. The Republican Party stands committed to 
the maintenance, extension, and enforcement of the civil service 
law, and it favors the passage of legislation empowering the Presi- 
dent to extend the competitive service as far as possible, the equi- 
table retirement of disabled and superannuated members of the 
civil service, in order that a higher order of efficiency may be main- 
tained. 

We favor the amendment of the Federal Employees' Liability 
Law so as to extend its provision to all government employees, as 



266 APPENDIX 

well as to provide a more liberal scale of compensation for injury 
and death. 

We favor such additional legislation as may be necessary more 
effectually to prohibit corporations from contributing funds, di- 
rectly or indirectly, to campaigns for the nomination or election 
of the President, Vice-President, Senators, and Representatives in 
Congress. We heartily approve the recent act of Congress requir- 
ing the fullest publicity in regard to all campaign contributions, 
"whether made in connection with primaries, conventions, or elec- 
tions. 

We rejoice in the success of the distinctive Republican policy 
of the conservation of our national resources, for their use by the 
people without waste and without monopoly. We pledge ourselves 
to a continuance of such a policy. 

We favor such fair and reasonable rules and regulations as will 
not discourage or interfere with actual bona fide home-seekers, 
prospectors, and miners in the acquisition of public lands under 
existing laws. 

In the interest of the general public, and particularly of the 
agricultural or rural communities, we favor legislation looking to 
the establishment, under proper regulations, of a parcels post, the 
postal rates to be graduated under a zone system in proportion to 
the length of carriage. 

We approve the action taken by the President and the Congress 
to secure with Russia, as with other countries, a treaty that will 
recognize the absolute right of expatriation, and that will prevent 
all discrimination of whatever kind between American citizens, 
whether native-born or alien, and regardless of race, religion, or 
previous political allegiance. The right of asylum is a precious 
possession of the people of the United States, and it is to be neither 
surrendered nor restricted. 

We believe in the maintenance of an adequate navy for the 
National defense, and we condemn the action of the Democratic 
House of Representatives in refusing to authorize the construction 
of additional ships. 

We believe that one of the country's most urgent needs is a 
revived merchant marine. There should be American ships, and 
plenty of them, to make use of the great American interoceanic 
canal now nearing completion. 

The Mississippi River is the Nation's drainage ditch. Its flood 
waters, gathered from thirty-one States and the Dominion of 
Canada, constitute an overpowering force which breaks the levees 
and pours its torrents over many million acres of the richest land 
in the Union, stopping mails, impeding commerce, and causing 
great loss of life and property. These floods are national in scope, 



I 



APPENDIX 267 

and the disasters they produce seriously affect the general welfare. 
The States unaided cannot cope with this giant problem ; hence, 
we believe the Federal Government should assume a fair propor- 
tion of the burden of its control so as to prevent the disasters from 
recurring floods. 

We favor the continuance of the policy of the Government with 
regard to the reclamation of arid lands, and for the encourage- 
ment of the speedy settlement and improvement of such lands we 
favor an amendment to the law that will reasonably extend the 
time within which the cost of any reclamation project may be re- 
paid by the landowners under it. 

We favor a liberal and systematic policy for the improvement 
of our rivers and harbors. Such improvements should be made 
upon expert information and after a careful comparison of cost 
and prospective benefits. 

We favor a liberal policy toward Alaska, to promote the de- 
velopment of the great resources of that district, with such safe- 
guards as will prevent waste and monopoly. 

We favor the opening of the coal lands to development through 
a law leasing the lands on such terms as will invite development 
and provide fuel for the navy and commerce of the Pacific Ocean, 
while retaining title in the United States to prevent monopoly. 

We ratify in all its particulars the platform of 1908 respecting 
cistizenship for the people of Porto Rico. 

The Philippine policy of the Republican Party has been and is 
inspired by the belief that our duty toward the Filipino people is 
a national obligation which should remain entirely free from parti- 
san politics. 

We pledge the Republican Party to the enactment of appropri- 
ate laws to give relief from the constantly growing evil of induced 
or undesirable immigration, which is inimical to the progress and 
welfare of the people of the United States. 

We favor the speedy enactment of laws to provide that seamen 
shall not be compelled to endure involuntary servitude and that 
life and property at sea shall be safeguarded by the ample equip- 
ment of vessels with life-saving appliances and with full comple- 
ments of skilled, able-bodied seamen to operate them. 

The approaching completion of the Panama Canal, the estab- 
lishment of a Bureau of IMines, the institution of postal savings 
banks, the increased provision made in 1912 for the aged and in- 
firm soldiers and sailors of the Republic and for their widows, and 
the vigorous administration of the laws relating to pure food and 
drugs all mark the successful progress of Republican administra- 
tion and are additional evidence of its effectiveness. 

We commend the earnest effort of the Republican Administra- 



268 APPENDIX 

tion to secure greater economy and increased efficiency in the con- 
duct of government business ; extravagant appropriations and the 
creation of unnecessary offices are an injustice to the taxpayer and 
a bad example to the citizen. 

We call upon the people to quicken their interest in public 
affairs, to condemn and punish lynchings and other forms of law- 
lessness, and to strengthen in all possible ways a respect for law 
and the observance of it. Indifferent citizenship is an evil from 
which the law affords no adequate protection and for which legis- 
lation can provide no remedy. 

We congratulate the people of Arizona and New Mexico upon 
the admission of those States, thus merging in the Union in final 
and enduring form the last remaining portion of our continental 
ten-itory. 

We challenge successful criticism of the sixteen years of Repub- 
lican administration under Presidents McKinley, Roosevelt, and 
Taft. We heartily reaffirm the indorsement of President McKin- 
ley contained in the platform of 1900 and of 1904 and that of 
President Roosevelt contained in the platform of 1904 and 1908. 

We invite the intelligent judgment of the American people 
upon the Administration of William H. Taft. The country has 
prospered and been at peace under his Presidency. During the 
years in which he had the cooperation of a Republican Congress 
an unexampled amount of constructive legislation was framed 
and passed in the interest of the people and in obedience to their 
wish. That legislation is a record on which any Administration 
might appeal with confidence to the favorable judgment of history. 

We appeal to the American electorate upon the record of the 
Republican Party and upon this declaration of its principles and 
purposes. We are confident that under the leadership of the can- 
didates here to be nominated our appeal will not be in vain ; 
that the Republican Party will meet every just expectation of the 
people whose servant it is ; that under its administration and its 
laws our Nation will continue to advance ; that peace and pros- 
perity will abide with the people, and that new glory will be added 
to the great Republic. 

DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONVENTION, HELD AT BALTIMORE, JUNE 25 

Candidates 

For President, Woodrow Wilson, of New Jersey. 

For Vice-President, Thomas R. JNIarshall, of Indiana. 

Platform 

We, the representatives of the Democratic Party of the United 

States, in National Convention assembled, reaffirm our devotion to 



APPENDIX 269 

the principles of democratic government formulated by Thomas 
Jefferson and enforced by a long and illustrious line of Democratic 
Presidents. 

We declare it to be a fundamental principle of the Democratic 
Party that the Federal Government under the Constitution has no 
right or power to impose or collect tariff duties except for the pur- 
pose of revenue, and we demand that the collection of such taxes 
shall be limited to the necessities of government honestly and 
economically administered. 

The high Republican tariff is the principal cause of the unequal 
distribution of wealth ; it is a system of taxation which makes the 
rich richer and the poor poorer ; under its operations the Amer- 
ican farmer and laboring man are the chief sufferers ; it raises 
the cost of the necessaries of life to them, but does not protect their 
product or wages. The farmer sells largely in free markets and 
buys almost entirely in the protected markets. In the most highly 
protected industries, such as cotton and wool, steel and iron, the 
wages of the laborers are the lowest paid in any of our industries. 
We denounce the Republican pretense on that subject and assert 
that American wages are established by competitive conditions 
and not by the tariff. 

We favor the immediate downward revision of the existing high, 
and, in many cases, prohibitive tariff duties, insisting that mate- 
rial reductions be speedily made upon the necessaries of life. Arti- 
cles entering into competition with trust-controlled products, and 
articles of American manufacture which are sold abroad more 
cheaply than at home, should be put upon the free list. 

We recognize that our system of tariff taxation is intimately 
connected with the business of the country, and we favor the ulti- 
mate attainment of the principles we advocate by legislation that 
will not injure or destroy legitimate industry. 

We denounce the action of President Taft in vetoing the bills to 
reduce the tariff in the cottpn, woolen, metals, and chemical sched- 
ules and the farmers' free list bill, all of which were designed to 
give immediate relief to the masses from the exactions of the 
trusts. 

The Republican Party, while promising tariff revision, has 
shown by its tariff legislation that such revision is not to be in 
the people's interest, and, having been faithless to its pledges of 
1908, it should not longer enjoy the confidence of the Nation. We 
appeal to the American people to support us in our demand for a 
tariff for revenue only. 

The high cost of living is a serious problem in every American 
home. The Republican Party in its platform attempts to escape 
from responsibility for present conditions by denying that they 



270 APPENDIX 

are due to a protective tariff. We take issue with them on this 
subject and charge that excessive prices result in a large measure 
from the high tariff laws enacted and maintained by the Repub- 
lican Party and from trusts and commercial conspiracies fostered 
and encouraged by such laws, and we assert that no substantial 
relief can be secured for the people until import duties on the 
necessaries of life are materially reduced and these criminal con- 
spiracies broken up. 

A private monopoly is indefensible and intolerable. We there- 
fore favor the vigorous enforcement of the criminal as well as the 
civil law against trusts and trust officials, and demand the enact- 
ment of such additional legislation as may be necessary to make 
it impossible for a private monopoly to exist in the United States. 

We favor the declaration by law of the conditions upon which 
corporations shall be permitted to engage in interstate trade, in- 
cluding, among others, the prevention of holding companies, of 
interlocking directors, of stock-watering, of discrimination in 
price, and the control by any one corporation of so large a pro- 
portion of any industry as to make it a menace to competitive 
conditions. 

We condemn the action of the Republican Administration in 
compromising with the Standard Oil Company and the Tobacco 
Trust and its failure to invoke the criminal provisions of the anti- 
trust law against the officers of those corporations after the court 
had declared that, from the undisputed facts in the record, they 
had violated the criminal provisions of the law. 

We regret that the Sherman anti-trust law has received a judi- 
cial construction depriving it of much of its efficacy, and we favor 
the enactment of legislation which will restore to the statute the 
strength of which it has been deprived by such interpretation. 

We believe in the preservation and maintenance in their full 
strength and integrity of the three coordinate branches of the 
Federal Government, — the executive, the legislative, and the 
judicial, — each keeping within its own bounds, and not encroach- 
ing upon the just powers of either of the others. 

Believing that the most efficient results under our system of 
government are to be attained by the full exercise by the States 
of their reserved sovereign powers, we denounce as usurpation the 
efforts of our opponents to deprive the States of any of the rights 
reserved to them, and to enlarge and magnify by indirection the 
powers of the Federal Government. 

We insist upon the full exercise of all the powers of the Gov- 
ernment, both state and national, to protect the people from in- 
justice at the hands of those who seek to make the Government 
a private asset in business. There is no twilight zone between the 



APPENDIX 271 

Nation and the State in which exploiting interests can take refuge 
from both. It is as necessary that the Federal Government shall 
exercise the powers reserved to them, but we insist that federal 
remedies for the regulation of interstate commerce and for the 
prevention of private monopoly shall be added to and not substi- 
tuted for state remedies. 

We congratulate the country upon the triumph of two import- 
ant reforms demanded in the last national platform, namely, the 
amendment of the Federal Constitution authorizing an income 
tax and the amendment providing for the popular election of 
Senators, and we call upon the people of all the States to rally to 
the support of the pending proposition and secure their ratification. 

We note with gratification the unanimous sentiment in favor 
of publicity before the election of campaign contributions — a 
measure demanded in our national platform of 1908, and at that 
time opposed by the Republican Party, and we commend the 
Democratic House of Representatives for extending the doctrine 
of publicity to recommendations, verbal and written, upon which 
Presidential appointments are made, to the ownership and control 
of newspapers, and to the expenditure made by and in behalf of 
those who aspire to Presidential nominations, and we point for 
additional justification for this legislation to the enormous ex- 
penditures of money in behalf of the President and his predeces- 
sor in the recent Presidential contest for the Republican nomina- 
tion for President. 

The movement toward more popular government should be 
promoted, through legislation, in each State which will permit 
the expression of the preference of the electors for national candi- 
dates at Presidential primaries. 

We direct that the National Committee incorporate in the call 
for the next nominating convention a requirement that all expres- 
sions of preference for Presidential candidates shall be given and 
the selection of delegates and alternates made through a primary 
election conducted by the party organization in each State where 
such expression and election are not provided for by state law. 
Committeemen who are hereafter to constitute the membership 
of the Democratic National Committee, and whose election is not 
provided for by law, shall be chosen in each State at such primary 
elections, and the service and authority of committeemen, how- 
ever chosen, shall begin immediately upon the receipt of their cre- 
dentials respectively. 

We pledge the Democratic Party to the enactment of a law pro- 
hibiting any corporation from contributing to a campaign fund 
and any individual from contributing any amount above a rea- 
sonable maximum. 



272 APPENDIX 

We favor a single Presidential term, and to that end urge the 
adoption of an amendment to the Constitution making the Presid- 
ent of the United States ineligible for reelection, and we pledge 
the candidate of this convention to this principle. 

At this time, when the Republican Party, after a generation of 
unlimited power in its control of the Federal Government, is rent 
into factions, it is opportune to point to the record of accomplish- 
ment of the Democratic House of Representatives in the Sixty- 
second Congress. We indorse its action and we challenge compari- 
son of it's record with that of any Congress which has been 
controlled by our opponents. 

We call the attention of the patriotic citizens of our country to 
its record of efficiency, economy, and constructive legislation. 

It has, among other achievements, revised the rules of the 
House of Representatives so as to give to the representatives of 
the American people freedom of speech and of action in advo- 
cating, proposing, and perfecting remedial legislation. It has 
passed bills for the relief of the people and the development of 
our country ; it has endeavored to revise the tariff taxes down- 
ward in the interest of the consuming masses and thus to reduce 
the high cost of living; it has proposed an amendment to the 
Federal Constitution providing for the election of United States 
Senators by the direct vote of the people ; it has secured the ad- 
mission of Arizona and New Mexico as two sovereign States ; it 
has required the publicity of campaign expenses both before and 
after election, and fixed a limit upon the election expenses of 
United States Senators and Representatives. 

It has also passed a bill to prevent the abuse of the writ of in- 
junction ; it has passed a law establishing an eight-hour day for 
workmen on all national public works ; it has passed a resolution 
which forced the President to take immediate steps to abrogate 
the Russian treaty, and it has passed the great supply bills which 
lessen waste and extravagance and which reduce the annual ex- 
penses of the Government by many millions of dollars. 

We approve the measure reported by the Democratic leaders in 
the House of Representatives for the creation of a counsel of na- 
tional defense which will determine a definite naval programme 
with a view to increased efficiency and economy. The party that 
proclaimed and has always enforced the Monroe Doctrine and was 
sponsor for the new navy will continue faithfully to observe the 
constitutional requirements to provide and maintain an adequate 
and well-proportioned navy sufficient to defend American policies, 
protect our citizens, and uphold the honor and dignity of the Na- 
tion. 

We denounce the profligate waste of the money wrung from the 



APPENDIX 273 

people by oppressive taxation through the lavish appropriations 
of recent Republican Congresses, which have kept taxes high and 
reduced the purchasing power of the people's toil. We demand a 
return to that simplicity and economy which befits a democratic 
government and a reduction in the number of useless offices, the 
salaries of which drain the substance of the people. 

We favor the efficient supervision and rate regulation of rail- 
roads, express companies, telegraph and telephone lines engaged 
in interstate commerce. To this end we recommend the valuation 
of railroads, express companies, telegraph and telephone lines by 
the Interstate Commerce Commission, such valuation to take into 
consideration the physical value of the property, the original cost, 
the cost of reproduction, and any element of value that will 
render the valuation fair and just. 

We favor such legislation as will effectually prohibit the rail- 
roads, express, telegraph, and telephone companies fi-om engaging 
in business which brings them into competition with the shippers 
or patrons, also legislation preventing the overissue of stocks and 
bonds by interstate railroads, express companies, telegraph and 
telephone lines, and legislation which will assure such reduction 
in transportation rates as conditions will permit, care being taken 
to avoid reduction that would compel a reduction of wages, 
prevent adequate service, or do injustice to legitimate invest- 
ments. 

We oppose the so-called " Aldrich Bill " for the establishment 
of a Central Bank, and we believe the people of the country will 
be largely freed from panics and consequent unemployment and 
business depression by such a systematic revision of our banking 
laws as will render temporary relief in localities where such relief 
is needed, with protection from control or domination by what is 
known as the " Money Trust." 

Banks exist for the accommodation of the public and not for the 
control of business. All legislation on the subject of banking and 
currency should have for its purpose the securing of these accom- 
modations on terms of absolute security to the public and of com- 
plete protection from the misuse of the power that wealth gives to 
those who possess it. 

We condemn the present methods of depositing government 
funds in a few favored banks, largely situated in or controlled by 
Wall Street, in return for political favors, and we pledge our 
party to provide by law for their deposit by competitive bidding 
in the banking institutions of the country, national and state, 
without discrimination as to locality, upon approved securities, 
and subject to call by the Government. 

Of equaj. A^ipoxtftnce with the question of currency reform is 



274 APPENDIX 

the question of rural credits or agricultural finance. Therefore we 
recommend that an investigation of agricultural credit societies in 
foreign countries be made, so that it may be ascertained whether 
a system of rural credits may be devised suitable to conditions in 
the United States, and we also favor legislation permitting na- 
tional banks to loan a reasonable proportion of their funds on 
real estate security. 

We recognize the value of vocational education, and urge fed- 
eral appropriations for such training, and extension teaching in 
agricultural cooperation with the several States. 

We renew the declaration in our last platform relating to the 
conservation of our natural resources, and the development of our 
waterways. The present devastation of the Lower Mississippi Val- 
ley accentuates the movement for the regulation of river flow by 
additional bank and levee protection below, and the diversion, 
"storage, and control of the flood waters above, and their utiliza- 
tion for beneficial purposes in the reclamation of arid and swamp 
lands, and development of water-power, instead of permitting the 
floods to continue, as heretofore, agents of destruction. 

We hold that the control of the Mississippi River is a national 
problem ; the preservation of the depth of its waters for the pur- 
pose of navigation, the building of levees to maintain the in- 
tegrity of its channel, and the prevention of the overflow of the 
land and its consequent devastation, resulting in the interruption 
of interstate commerce, the disorganization of the mail service, 
and the enormous loss of life and property, impose an obligation 
which alone can be discharged by the general Government. 

To mantain an adequate depth of water the entire year, and 
thereby encourage water transportation, is a consummation worthy 
of legislative attention and presents an issue national in its char- 
acter. It calls for prompt action on the part of Congress, and the 
Democratic Party pledges itself to the enactment of legislation 
leading to that end. 

We favor the cooperation of the United States and the respect- 
ive States in plans for the comprehensive treatment of all water- 
ways, with a view of coordinating plans for channel improvement 
with plans for drainage of swamps and overflowed lands, and to 
this end we favor the appropriation by the Federal Government 
of sufficient funds to make surveys of such lands, to develop plans 
for drainage of such lands, and to supervise the work of con- 
struction. 

We favor the adoption of a liberal and comprehensive plan for 
the development and improvement of our inland waterways, with 
economy and efficiency, so as to permit their navigation by vessels 
of standard draught. 



APPENDIX 275 

We favor national aid to state and local authorities in the 
construction and maintenance of post-roads. 

We repeat our declarations of the platform of 1908, as fol- 
lows : — 

" The courts of justice are the bulwarks of our liberties, and we 
yield to none in our purpose to maintain their dignity. Our party 
have given to the bench a long line of distinguished Justices who 
have added to the respect and confidence in which this depart- 
ment must be jealously maintained. We resent the attempt of the 
Republican Party to raise a false issue respecting the judiciary. It 
is an unjust reflection upon a great body of our citizens to assume 
that they lack respect for the courts. 

" It is the function of the courts to interpret the law^s which 
the people enact, and if the laws appear to work economical, 
social, or political injustice, it is our duty to change them. The 
only basis upon which the integrity of our courts can stand is 
that of unswerving justice and protection of life, personal liberty, 
and property. If judicial processes may be abused, we should 
guard them against abuse. 

" Experience has proved the necessity of a modification of the 
present law relating to injunction, and w^e reiterate the pledges of 
our platforms of 1896 and 1904 in favor of a measure which 
passed the United States Senate in 1896, relating to contempt in 
Fedei-al Courts and providing for trial by jury in cases of indirect 
contempt. 

" Questions of judicial practice have arisen, especially in con- 
nection with industrial disputes. We believe that the parties to 
all judicial proceedings should be treated with rigid impartiality 
and that injunctions should not be issued in any case in which an 
injunction would not issue if no industrial dispute were involved, 

" The expanding organization of industry makes it essential 
that there should be no abridgment of the right of the wage- 
earners and producers to organize for the protection of wages and 
the improvement of labor conditions, to the end that such labor 
organizations and their members should not be regarded as illegal 
combinations in restraint of trade. 

" We pledge the Democratic Party to the enactment of a law 
creating a Department of Labor, represented separately in the 
President's Cabinet, in which department shall be included the 
subject of mines and mining. 

" We pledge the Democratic Party, so far as the federal juris- 
diction extends, to an employees' compensation law providing 
adequate indemnity for injury to body or loss of life." 

We believe in the conservation and the development, for the use 
of all tine pqople, ipf the natural resources of the country. Our for- 



276 APPENDIX 

ests, our sources of water-supply, our arable and our mineral lands, 
our navigable streams, and all the other material resources with 
which our country has been so lavishly endowed, constitute the 
foundation of our national wealth. Such additional legislation as 
may be necessary to prevent their being wasted or absorbed by 
special or privileged interests should be enacted and the policy of 
their conservation should be rigidly adhered to. 

The public domain should be administered and disposed of 
with due regard to the general welfare. Reservations should be 
limited to the purposes which they purport to serve and not ex- 
tended to include land wholly unsuited therefor. The unnecessary 
withdrawal from sale and settlement of enormous tracts of public 
land, upon which tree growth never existed and cannot be pro- 
moted, tends only to retard development, create discontent, and 
bring reproach upon the policy of conservation. 

The public land laws should be administered in a spirit of the 
broadest liberality toward the settler exhibiting a bona fide pur- 
pose to comply therewith, to the end that the invitation of this 
Government to the landless should be as attractive as possible ; and 
the plain provisions of the Forest Reserve Act permitting home- 
stead entries to be made within the national forests should not be 
nullified by administrative regulations which amount to a with- 
drawal of great areas of the same from settlement. 

Immediate action should be taken by Congress to make avail- 
able the vast and valuable coal deposits of Alaska under conditions 
that will be a perfect guaranty against their falling into the hands 
of monopolizing corporations, associations, or interests. 

We rejoice in the inheritance of mineral resources unequaled in 
extent, variety, or value, and in the development of a mining in- 
dustry unequaled in its magnitude and importance. We honor the 
men who, in their hazardous toil underground, daily risk their 
lives in extracting and preparing for our use the products of the 
mine, so essential to the industries, the commerce, and the com- 
fort of the people of this country. And we pledge ourselves to the 
extension of the work of the Bureau of Mines in every way appro- 
priate for national legislation, with a view of safeguarding the 
lives of the miners, lessening the waste of essential resources, and 
promoting the economic development of mining, which, along with 
agriculture, must in the future, even more than in the past, serve 
as the very foundation of our national prosperity and welfare and 
our international commerce. 

We believe in encouraging the development of a modern system 
of agriculture and a systematic effort to improve the conditions of 
trade in farm products so as to benefit both the consumers and 
producers. And as an efficient means to this end we favor the 



APPENDIX 277 

enactment by Congress of legislation that will suppress the per- 
nicious practice of gambling in agricultural products by organized 
exchanges or others. 

We believe in fostering, by constitutional regulation of com- 
merce, the growth of a merchant marine, which shall develop and 
strengthen the commercial ties which bind us to our sister repub- 
lics to the south, but without imposing additional burdens upon 
the people and without bounties or subsidies from the public 
Treasury. 

We urge upon Congress the speedy enactment of laws for the 
greater security of life and property at sea, and favor the repeal of 
all laws and the abrogation of so much of our treaties with other 
nations as provide for the arrest and imprisonment of seamen 
charged with desertion or with violation of their contract of service. 

Such laws and treaties are un-American, and violate the spirit, 
if not the letter, of the Constitution of the United States. 

We favor the exemption from tolls of American ships engaged 
in coastwise trade passing through the Panama Canal. 

We also favor legislation forbidding the use of the Panama 
Canal by ships owned or controlled by railroad carriers engaged in 
transportation competitive with the Canal. 

We reaffirm our previous declarations advocating the union and 
strengthening of the various governmental agencies relating to 
pure foods, quarantine, vital statistics, and human health. Thus 
united and administered without partiality to or discrimination 
against any school of medicine or system of healing, they would 
constitute a single health service, not subordinated to any com- 
mercial or financial interests, but devoted exclusively to the con- 
servation of human life and efficiency. Moreover, this health 
service should cooperate with the health agencies of our various 
States and cities without interference with their prerogatives, 
or with the freedom of individuals to employ such medical or 
hygienic aid as they may see fit. 

The law pertaining to the civil service should be honestly and 
rigidly enforced, to the end that merit and ability should be the 
standard of appointment and promotion, rather than service rend- 
ered to a political party ; and we favor a reorganization of the 
civil service with adequate compensation commensurate with the 
class of work performed for all officers and employees ; we also 
favor the extension to all classes of civil service employees of the 
benefits of the provisions of the Employers' Liability Act ; we also 
recognize the right of direct petition to Congress by employees for 
the redress of grievances. 

We recognize the urgent need of reform in the administration 
of civil and criminal law in the United States, and we recommend 



278 APPENDIX 

the enactment of such legislation and the promotion of such 
measures as will rid the present legal system of the delays, ex- 
pense, and uncertainties incident to the system as now admin- 
istered. 

We reaffirm the position thrice announced by the Democracy in 
National Convention assembled against a policy of imperialism 
and colonial exploitation in the Philippines or elsewhere. We con- 
demn the experiment in imperialism as an inexcusable blunder 
which has involved us in enormous expense, brought us weakness 
instead of strength, and laid our Nation open to the charge of 
abandonment of the fundamental doctrine of self-government. 

We favor an immediate declaration of the Nation's purpose to 
recognize the independence of the Philippine Islands as soon as 
a stable government can be established, such independence to be 
guaranteed by us until the neutralization of the islands can be 
secured by treaty with other powers. In recognizing the independ- 
ence of the Philippines, our Government should retain such land 
as may be necessary for coaling-stations and naval bases. 

We welcome Arizona and New Mexico to the sisterhood of 
States, and heartily congratulate them upon their auspicious be- 
ginning of great and glorious careers. 

We demand for the people of Alaska the full enjoyment of the 
rights and privileges of a territorial form of government, and we 
believe that the officials appointed to administer the Government 
of all our Territories and the District of Columbia should be quali- 
fied by previous bonajide residence. 

We commend the patriotism of the Democratic members of the 
Senate and House of Representatives which compelled the termi- 
nation of the Russian Treaty of 1832, and we pledge ourselves 
anew to preserve the sacred rights of American citizenship at home 
and abroad. No treaty should receive the sanction of our Govern- 
ment which does not recognize that equality of all of our citizens, 
irrespective of race or creed, and which does not expressly guaran- 
tee the fundamental right of expatriation. 

The constitutional rights of American citizens should protect 
them on our borders and go with them throughout the world, and 
every American citizen residing or having property in any foreign 
country is entitled to and must be given the full protection of the 
United States Government, both for himself and his property. 

We favor the establishment of a parcels post or postal express, 
and also the extension of the rural delivery system, as rapidly as 
practicable. 

We hereby express our deep interest in the great Panama Canal 
Exposition to be held in San Francisco in 1915, and favor such 
encouragement as can be properly given. 



APPENDIX 279 

We commend to the several States the adoption of a law making 
it an offense for the proprietors of places of public amusement and 
entertainment to discriminate against the uniform of the United 
States similar to the law passed by Congress applicable to the Dis- 
trict of Columbia and the Territories in 1911. 

We renew the declaration of our last platform relating to a gen- 
erous pension policy. 

We call attention to the fact that the Democratic Party's de- 
mand for a return to the rule of the people, expressed in the 
National Platform four years ago, has now become the accepted 
doctrine of a large majority of the electors. We again remind the 
conntry that only by the larger exercise of the reserved power of 
the people can they protect themselves from the misuse of dele- 
gated power and the usurpation of governmental instrumentalities 
by special interests. For this reason the National Convention in- 
sisted on the overthrow of Cannonism and the inauguration of a 
system by which United States Senators could be elected by direct 
vote. The Democratic Party offers itself to the country as an agency 
through which the complete overthrow and extirpation of corrup- 
tion, fraud, and machine rule in American politics can be effected. 

Our platform is one of principles which we believe to be essen- 
tial to our national welfare. Our pledges are made to be kept when 
in office as well as relied upon during the campaign, and we invite 
the cooperation of all citizens, regardless of party, who believe in 
maintaining unimpared the institutions and traditions of our 
country. 

Prohibition Party Convention, held at Atlantic City, 
July 10 

Candidates 

For President, Eugene W. Chafin, of Illinois. 
For Vice-President, Aaron S. Watkins, of Ohio. 

Platform 

The Prohibition Party of the United States of America, in con- 
vention at Atlantic City, New Jersey, July 11, 1912, recognizing 
God as the source of all governmental authority, makes the follow- 
ing declaration of principles : — 

The alcoholic drink traffic is wrong, the most serious drain upon 
the Nation's wealth and resources, detrimental to the general wel- 
fare, destructive of the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the 
pursuit of happiness, and therefore, all laws taxing or licensing a 
traffic that produces crime, poverty, and political corruption, and 
spreads disease and death, should be repealed. To destroy such 



280 APPENDIX 

traflfic there must be elected to power a political party -which will 
administer the Government from the standpoint that the alcoholic 
drink traffic is a crime and not a business. 

We favor the election of United States Senators by direct vote 
of the people. 

Presidential terms of six years and one term only. 

Uniform marriage and divorce laws. 

The extermination of polygamy and the complete suppression 
of the traffic in girls. 

Suffrage for women upon the same terms as to men. 

Court review as to post-office decisions. 

The absolute protection of the rights of labor without impair- 
ment of the rights of capital. 

The settlement of all international disputes by arbitration. 

The initiative and referendum. 

The tariff is a commercial question and should be fixed on the 
basis of accurate knowledge secured by a permanent omnipartisan 
tariff commission with ample powers. 

An elastic currency system adequate to our industrial needs. 

The complete and permanent separation of Church and State. 

We oppose the appropriation of public funds for any sectarian 
purposes. 

The abolition of child labor in the mines, workshops, and fac- 
tories, with the rigid enforcement of laws now flagrantly violated. 

Equitable graduated income and inheritance taxes. 

Conservation of our mineral and forest reserves, reclamation of 
arid and waste lands, and we urge that all mineral and timber 
lands and water-power now owned by the Government be held 
perpetually and leased for revenue purposes. 

Clearly defined laws for the regulation and control of corpora- 
tions transacting an interstate business. 

Greater efficiency and economy in government service. 

To these fundamental principles the National Prohibition Party 
renews its long allegiance and on these issues invites the coopera- 
tion of all citizens, to the end that the true objects of popular 
government may be attained ; i.e., equal and exact justice to all. 



APPENDIX 281 

Progressive Party Convention, Held at Chicago, August 5 

Candidates 

For President, Theodore Roosevelt, of New York. 

For Vice-President, Hiram W. Johnson, of California. 

Platform 

The conscience of the people in a time of grave national prob- 
lems has called into being a new party, born of the nation's awak- 
ened sense of justice. 

We of the Progressive Party here dedicate ourselves to the ful- 
filment of the duty laid upon us by our fathers to maintain that 
government of the people, by the people, and for the people, whose 
foundations they laid. 

We hold, with Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, that 
the people are the masters of their Constitution, to fulfill its pur- 
poses and to safeguard it from those who, by perversion of its 
intent, would convert it into an instrument of injustice. In ac- 
cordance with the needs of each generation the people must use 
their sovereign powers to establish and maintain equal opportunity 
and industrial justice, to secure which this government was founded 
and without which no republic can endure. 

This country belongs to the people who inhabit it. Its resources, 
its business, its institutions, and its laws should be utilized, main- 
tained, or altered in whatever manner will best promote the gen- 
eral interest. It is time to set the public welfare in the first place. 

Political parties exist to secure responsible government and to 
execute the will of the people. From these great tasks both the old 
parties have turned aside. Instead of instruments to promote the 
general welfare, they have become the tools of corrupt interests 
which use them impartially to serve their selfish purposes. Behind 
the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government 
owning no allegiance and alleging no responsibility to the people. 
To destroy this invisible government, to dissolve the unholy 
alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics, is the first 
task of the statesmanship of the day. 

The deliberate betrayal of its trust by the Republican Party, the 
fatal incapacity of the Democratic Party to deal with the new 
issues of the new time, have compelled the people to forge a new 
instrument of government through which to give effect to their will 
in laws and institutions. Unhampered by tradition, uncorrupted 
by power, undismayed by the magnitude of the task, the new 
party offers itself as the instrument of the people to sweep away 
old abuses, to build a new and nobler commonwealth. 

This declaration is our covenant with the people, and we hereby 



282 APPENDIX 

bind the party and its candidates in state and nation to the pledges 
made herein. 

The Progressive Party, committed to the principle of government 
by a self-controlled democracy expressing its will through repre- 
sentatives of the people, pledges itself to secure such alterations 
in the fundamental law of the several states and of the United 
States as shall insure the representative character of the govern- 
ment. In particular, the party declares for direct-primaries for the 
nomination of state and national officers, for nation-wide prefer- 
ential primaries for candidates for the Presidency, for the direct 
election of United States Senators by the people ; and we urge on 
the states the policy of the short ballot with responsibility to the 
people secured by the initiative, referendum, and recall. 

The Progressive Party, believing that a free people should have 
the power from time to time to amend their fundamental law so 
as to adopt it progressively to the changing needs of the people, 
pledges itself to provide a more easy and expeditious method of 
amending the Federal Constitution. 

Up to the limit of the Constitution and later by amendment of 
the Constitution, if it was found necessary, we advocate bringing 
under effective national jurisdiction those problems which have 
expanded beyond reach of the individual states. 

It is as grotesque as it is intolerable that the several states 
should by unequal laws in matter of common concern become 
competing commercial agencies, barter the lives of their children, 
the health of their women, and the safety and well-being of their 
working people for the profit of their financial interests. 

The extreme insistence on state's rights by the Democratic Party 
in the Baltimore platform demonstrates anew its inability to 
understand the world into which it has survived or to administer 
the affairs of a union of states which have in all essential respects 
become one people. 

The Progressive Party, believing that no people can justly claim 
to be a true democracy which denies political right on account of 
sex, pledges itself to the task of securing equal suffrage to men 
and women alike. 

We pledge our party to legislation that will compel strict lim- 
itation of all campaign contributions and expenditures and detailed 
publicity of both, before as weU as after primaries and elections. 

We pledge our party to legislation compelling the registration 
of lobbyists ; publicity of committee hearings, except on foreign 
affairs, and recording of all votes in committee, and forbidding 
federal appointees from holding office in state or national political 
organizations or taking part as officers or delegates in political 
conventions for the nomination of elective state or national officials. 



APPENDIX 283 

The Progressive Party demands such restriction of the power 
of the courts as shall leave to the people the ultimate authority 
to determine fundamental questions of social welfare and public 
policy. To secure this end, it pledges itself to provide : — 

(1) That when an act passed under the police power of the 
state is held unconstitutional under the state constitution by the 
courts, the people, after an ample interval for deliberation, shall 
have an opportunity to vote on the question whether they desire 
the act to become law, notwithstanding such decision. 

(2) That every decision of the highest appellate court of a state 
declaring an act of the legislature unconstitutional on the ground 
of its violation of the Federal Constitution shall be subject to the 
same review by the Supreme Court of the United States as is now 
accorded to decisions sustaining such legislation. 

The Progressive Party, in order to secure to the people a better 
administration of justice and by that means to bring about a more 
general respect for the law and the courts, pledges itself to work 
unceasingly for the reform of legal procedure and judicial methods. 

We believe that the issuance of injunctions in cases arising out 
of labor disputes should be prohibited when such injunctions 
would not apply when no labor disputes existed. 

We also believe that a person cited for contempt in labor dis- 
putes, except when such contempt was committed in the actual 
presence of the court or so near thereto as to interfere with the 
proper administration of justice, should have a right to trial by 
jury. 

The supreme duty of the nation is the conservation of human 
resources through an enlightened measure of social and industrial 
justice. We pledge ourselves to work unceasingly in state and 
nation for — 

Effective legislation looking to the prevention of industrial acci- 
dents, occupational diseases, overwork, involuntary unemployment, 
and other injurious effects incident to modern industry; 

The fixing of minimum safety and health standards for the 
various occupations, and the exercise of the public authority of 
state and nation, including the federal control over interstate 
commerce and the taxing power, to maintain such standards; 

The prohibition of child labor; minimum wage standards for 
working women; to provide a "living wage" in all industrial 
occupations ; 

The general prohibition of night work for women, and the estab- 
lishment of an eight-hour day for women and young persons ; 

One day's rest in seven for all wage-workers ; 

The eight-hour day in continuous twenty-four hour industries ; 

The abolition of the convict contract labor system; substituting 



284 APPENDIX 

a system of prison production for governmental consumption only ; 
and the application of prisoners' earnings to the support of their 
dependent families ; 

Publicity as to wages, hours, and conditions of labor ; full re- 
ports upon industrial accidents and diseases, and the opening to 
public inspection of all tallies, weights, measures, and check sys- 
tems on labor products. 

We pledge our party to establish a Department of Labor with a 
seat in the Cabinet, and with wide jurisdiction over matters affect- 
ing the conditions of labor and living. 

The development and prosperity of country life are as important 
to the people who live in the cities as they are to the farmers. 
Increase of prosperity on the farm will favorably affect the cost 
of living and promote the interests of all who dwell in the country, 
and all who depend upon its products for clothing, shelter, and 
food. 

We pledge our party to foster the development of agricultural 
credit and cooperation, the teaching of agriculture in schools, the 
agricultural college extension, the use of mechanical power on the 
farm, and to reestablish the Country Life Commission, thus directly 
promoting the welfare of the farmers and bringing the benefits of 
better farming, better business, and better living within their 
reach. 

The high cost of living is due partly to world-wide and partly 
to local causes ; partly to natural and partly to artificial causes. 
The measures proposed in this platform on various subjects, such 
as the tariff, the trusts, and conservation, will of themselves remove 
the artificial causes. There will remain other elements, such as the 
tendency to leave the country for the city, waste, extravagance, 
bad system of taxation, poor methods of raising crops, and bad 
business methods in marketing crops. 

To remedy these conditions requires the fullest information and, 
based on this information, effective government supervision and 
control to remove all the artificial causes. We pledge ourselves to 
such full and immediate inquiry and to immediate action to deal 
with every need such inquiry discloses. 

We favor the union of all the existing agencies of the Federal 
Government dealing with the public health into a single national 
health service without discrimination against or for any one set 
of therapeutic methods, school of medicine, or school of healing, 
with such additional powers as may be necessary to enable it to 
perform efficiently such duties in the protection of the public from 
preventable disease as may be properly undertaken by the federal 
authorities ; including the executing of existing laws regarding 
pure food ; quarantine and cognate subjects ; the promotion of 



APPENDIX 285 

appropriate action for the improvement of vital statistics and the 
extension of the registration area of such statistics ; and coopera- 
tion with the health activities of the various states and cities of 
the nation. 

We believe that true popular government, justice, and prosperity 
go hand in hand, and, so believing, it is our purpose to secure 
that large measui-e of general prosperity which is the fruit of 
legitimate and honest business, fostered by equal justice and by 
sound progressive laws. 

We demand that the test of true prosperity shall be the benefits 
conferred thereby on all the citizens, not confined to individuals 
or classes, and that the test of corporate efficiency shall be the 
ability better to serve the public ; tliat those who profit by control 
of business shall justify that profit and control by sharing with 
the public the fruits thereof. 

We therefore demand a strong national regulation of interstate 
corporations. The corporation is an essential part of modern busi- 
ness. The concentration of modern business in some degree is 
both inevitable and necessary for national and international busi- 
ness efficiency. But the existing concentration of vast wealth under 
a corporate system, unguarded and uncontrolled by the nation, 
has placed in the hands of a few men enormous, secret, irrespon- 
sible power over the daily life of the citizen — a power insufferable 
in a free government and certain of abuse. 

This power has been abused, in monopoly of national resources, 
in stock-watering, in unfair competition and unfair privileges, and 
finally in sinister influences on the public agencies of state and 
nation. We do not fear commercial power, but we insist that it 
shall be exercised openly, under public supervision and regulation 
of the most efficient sort which will preserve its good while eradi- 
cating and preventing its ill. 

To that end we urge the establishment of a strong federal ad- 
ministrative commission of high standing which shall maintain 
permanent active supervision over industrial corporations engaged 
in interstate commerce, doing for them what the Government now 
does for the national banks, and what is now done for the railroads 
by the Interstate Commerce Commission. 

Such a commission must enforce the complete publicity of those 
corporate transactions which are of public interest ; must attack 
unfair competition, false capitalization, and special privilege, and 
by continuous, trained watchfulness guard and keep open, equally 
to all, the highways of American commerce. Thus the business 
man will have certain knowledge of the law, and will be able to 
conduct his business easily in conformity therewith ; the investor 
will find security for his capital ; dividends will be rendered more 



286 APPENDIX 

certain, and the savings of the people will be drawn naturally and 
safely into the channels of trade. 

Under snch a system of constructive regulation legitimate busi- 
ness, freed from confusion, uncertainty, and fruitless litigation, 
will develop normally in response to the energy and enterprise of 
the American business man. 

We favor strengthening the Sherman Law by prohibiting agree- 
ments to divide territory or limit output ; refusing to sell to cus- 
tomers who buy from business rivals ; to sell below cost in certain 
areas while maintaining higher prices in other places ; using the 
power of transportation to aid or injure special business concerns, 
and other unfair trade practices. 

We pledge ourselves to the enactment of a patent law which 
will make it impossible for patents to be suppressed or used against 
the public welfare in the interests of injurious monopolies. 

We pledge our party to secure to the Interstate Commerce Com- 
mission the power to value the physical property of railroads. In 
order that the power of the commission to protect the people may 
not be impaired or destroyed, we demand the abolition of the 
Commerce Court. 

W^e believe there exists imperative need for prompt legislation 
for the improvement of our national currency system. We believe 
the present method of issuing notes through private agencies 
is harmful and unscientific. The issue of currency is fundamen- 
tally a government function and the system should have as basic 
principles soundness and elasticity. The control should be lodged 
with the Government and should be protected from domination or 
manipulation by Wall Street or any special interests. 

We are opposed to the so-called Aldrich Currency Bill because 
its provisions would place our currency and credit system in 
private hands, not subject to effective public control. 

The time has come when the Federal Government should coop- 
erate with manufacturers and producers in extending our foreign 
commerce. To this end we demand adequate appropriations by 
Congress and the appointment of diplomatic and consular officers 
solely with a view to their special fitness and worth, and not in 
consideration of political expediency. 

It is imperative to the welfare of our people that we enlarge and 
extend our foreign commerce. In every way possible our Federal 
Government should cooperate in this important matter. Germany's 
policy of cooperation between government and business has in 
comparatively few years made that nation a leading competitor 
for the commerce of the world. 

The natural resources of the nation must be promptly developed 
and generously used to supply the people's needs, but we cannot 



APPENDIX 287 

safely allow them to be wasted, exploited, monopolized, or con- 
trolled against the general good. We heartily favor the policy of 
conservation, and we pledge our party to protect the national for- 
ests without hindering tlieir legitimate use for the benefit of all 
the people. Agricultural lands in the national forests are and 
should remain open to the genuine settler. Conservation will not 
retard legitimate development. The honest settler must receive his 
patent promptly without hindrance, rules, or delays. 

We believe that the remaining forests, coal and oil lands, water- 
powers, and other natural resources, still in state or national con- 
trol (except agricultural lands), are more likely to be wisely con- 
served and utilized for the general welfare if held in the public 
hands. In order that consumers and producers, managers and 
workmen, now and hereafter, need not pay toll to private monopo- 
lies of power and raw material, we demand that such resources 
shall be retained by the state or nation, and opened to immediate 
use under laws which will encourage development and make to the 
people a moderate return for benefits conferred. 

In particular we pledge our party to require reasonable compen- 
sation to the public for water-power rights hereafter gi-anted by 
the public. We pledge legislation to lease the public grazing lands 
under equitable provisions now pending which will increase the 
production of food for the people and thoroughly safeguard the 
rights of the actual homemakers. Natural resources whose con- 
servation is necessary for the national welfare should be owned or 
controlled by the nation. 

We recognize the vital importance of good roads, and we pledge 
our party to foster their extension in every proper way, and we 
favor the early construction of national highways. We also favor 
the extension of the rural free delivery service. 

The coal and other natural resources of Alaska should be opened 
to development at once. They are owned by the people of the 
United States and are safe from monopoly, waste, or destruction 
only while so owned. We demand that they shall neither be sold 
nor given away except under the Homestead Law, but while held 
in government ownership shall be opened to use promptly upon 
liberal terms requiring immediate development. 

Thus the benefit of cheap fuel will accrue to the Government of 
the United States and to the people of Alaska and the Pacific 
Coast ; the settlement of extensive agricultural lands will be has- 
tened ; the extermination of the salmon will be prevented, and the 
just and wise development of Alaskan resources will take the place 
of private extortion or monopoly. We demand also that extortion or 
monopoly in transportation shall be prevented by the prompt 
acquisition, construction, or improvement by the Government of 



288 APPENDIX 

such railroads, harbor, and other facilities for transportation as 
the welfare of the people may demand. 

We promise the people of the Territory of Alaska the same 
measure of local self-government that was given to other American 
Territories, and that federal officials appointed there shall be 
qualified by previous bona fide residence in the territory. 

The rivers of the United States are the natural arteries of this 
continent. We demand that they shall be opened to trafl&c as in- 
dispensable parts of a great nation-wide system of transportation, 
in which the Panama Canal will be the central link, thus enabling 
the whole interior of the United States to share with the Atlantic 
and Pacific seaboards in the benefit derived from the canals. 

It is a national obligation to develop our rivers, and especially 
the Mississippi and its tributaries, without delay, under a compre- 
hensive general plan covering each river system from its source to 
its mouth, designed to secure its highest usefulness for navigation, 
irrigation, domestic supply, water-power, and the prevention of 
floods. We pledge our party to the immediate preparation of 
such a plan which should be made and carried out in close and 
friendly cooperation between the nation, the state, and the cities 
affected. 

Under such a plan, the destructive floods of the Mississippi and 
other streams, which represent a vast and needless loss to the 
nation, would be controlled by forest conservation and water 
storage at the headwaters and by levees below, land sufficient 
to support millions of people would be reclaimed from the de- 
serts and swamps, water-power enough to transform the indus- 
trial standing of whole states would be developed, adequate water 
terminals would be provided, transportation would revive, and the 
railroads would be compelled to cooperate as freely with the boat 
lines as with each other. 

The equipment, organization, and experience acquired in con- 
structing the Panama Canal soon will be available for the lakes- 
to-the-gulf deep waterway and other portions of this great work, 
and should be utilized by the nation in cooperation with the vari- 
ous states, at the lowest net cost to the people. 

The Panama Canal, built and paid for by the American people, 
must be used primarily for their beneflt. We demand that the 
canal shall be so operated as to break the transportation monopoly 
now held and misused by the transcontinental railroads by main- 
taining sea competition with them, that ships directly or indi- 
rectly owned or controlled by American railroad corporations shall 
not be permitted to use the canal, and that American ships en- 
gaged in coastwise trade shall pay no tolls. 

The Progressive Party will favor legislation having for its aim 



APPENDIX 289 

the development of friendship and commerce between the United 
States and Latin- American nations. 

We believe in a protective tariff which shall equalize conditions 
of competition between the United States and foreign countries, 
both for the farmer and the manufacturer, and which shall main- 
tain for labor an adequate standard of living. Primarily the benefit 
of any tariff should be disclosed in the pay envelope of the laborer. 
We declare that no industry deserves protection which is unfair 
to labor or which is operating in violation of federal law. We be- 
lieve that the presumption is always in favor of the consuming 
public. 

We demand tariff revision because the present tariff is unjust 
to the people of the United States. Fair dealing toward the people 
requires an immediate downward revision of those schedules 
wherein duties are shown to be unjust or excessive. 

We pledge ourselves to the establishment of a non-partisan scien- 
tific tariff commission, reporting both to the President and to 
either branch of Congress, which shall report, — first, as to the costs 
of production, efficiency of labor, capitalization, industrial organiza- 
tion and efficiency, and the general competitive position in this 
country and abroad of industries seeking protection from Con- 
gress ; second, as to the revenue-producing power of the tariff and 
its relation to the resources of Government ; and third, as to the 
effect of the tariff on prices, operations of middle men, and on the 
purchasing power of the consumer. We believe that this commis- 
sion should have plenary power to elicit information and for this 
purpose to prescribe a uniform system of accounting for the great 
protected industries. The work of the commission should not pre- 
vent the immediate adoption of acts reducing those schedules 
generally recognized as excessive. 

We condemn the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Bill as unjust to the 
people. The Republican organization is in the hands of those who 
have broken, and cannot be again trusted to keep, the promise of 
necessary downward revision. The Democratic Party is committed 
to the destruction of the protective system through a tariff for 
revenue only — a policy which would inevitably produce wide- 
spread industrial and commercial disaster. We demand the imme- 
diate repeal of the Canadian Reciprocity Act. 

We believe in a graduated inheritance tax as a national means 
of equalizing the obligations of holders of property to government, 
and we hereby pledge our party to enact such a federal law as will 
tax large inheritances, returning to the states an equitable percent- 
age of all amounts collected. We favor the ratification of the 
pending amendment to the Constitution giving the Government 
power to levy an income tax. 



290 APPENDIX 

The Progressive Party deplores the survival in our civilization 
of the barbaric system of warfare among nations, with its enor- 
mous waste of resources even in time of peace and the consequent 
impoverishment of the life of the toiling masses. 

We pledge the party to use its best endeavors to substitute judi- 
cial and other peaceful means of settling international differences. 

We favor an international agreement for the limitation of naval 
forces. Pending such an agreement, and as the best means of pre- 
serving peace, we pledge ourselves to maintain for the present the 
policy of building two battleships a year. 

We pledge our party to protect the rights of American citizen- 
ship at home and abroad. No treaty should receive the sanction of 
our Government which discriminates between American citizens 
because of birthplace, race, or religion, or that does not recognize 
the absolute right of expatriation. 

Through the establishment of industrial standards we propose 
to secure to the able-bodied immigrant and to his native fellow- 
workers, a larger share of American opportunity. 

We denounce the fatal policy of indifference and neglect which 
has left our enormous immigrant population to become the prey 
of chance and cupidity. We favor governmental action to encour- 
age the distribution of immigrants away from the congested cities, 
to rigidly supervise all private agencies dealing with them, and to 
promote their assimilation, education, and advancement. 

We pledge ourselves to a wise and just policy of pensioning 
American soldiers and sailors and their widows and children by 
the Federal Government. 

And we approve the policy of the Southern States in granting 
pensions to the ex-Confederate soldiers and sailors and their 
widows and children. 

We pledge our party to the immediate creation of a parcels post 
with rates proportionate to distance and service. 

We condemn the violations of the Civil Service Law under the 
present administration, including the coercion and assessment of 
subordinate employees, and the President's refusal to punish such 
violation after a finding of guilty by his own commission ; his dis- 
tribution of patronage among subservient Congressmen, while 
withholding it from those who refuse to support administration 
measures ; his withdrawal of nominations from the Senate until 
political support for himself was secured, and his open use of the 
offices to reward those who voted for his renomination. 

To eradicate these abuses, we demand not only the enforcement 
of the Civil Service Act in letter and spirit, but also legislation 
which will bring under the competitive system postmasters, col- 
lectors, marshals, and all other non-political officers, as well as the 



APPENDIX 291 

enactment of an equitable retirement law, and we also insist upon 
continuous service during good behavior and efBciency. 

We pledge our party to readjustment of the business methods 
of the National Government and a proper coordination of the 
federal bureaus which will increase the economy and efficiency of 
the government service, prevent duplications, and secure better 
results to the taxpayers for every dollar expended. 

The people of the United States are swindled out of many mil- 
lions of dollars every year, through worthless investments. The 
plain people, the wage-earner, and the men and women with small 
savings, have noway of knowing the merit of concerns sending out 
highly colored prospectuses offering stock for sale, prospectuses 
that make big returns seem certain and fortunes easily within 
grasp. 

We hold it to be the duty of the Government to protect its 
people from this kind of piracy. We, therefore, demand wise, care- 
fully-thought-out legislation that will give us such governmental 
supervision over this matter as will furnish to the people of the 
United States this much-needed protection, and we pledge our- 
selves thereto. 

On these principles and on the recognized desirability of uniting 
the progressive forces of the nation into an organization which 
shall unequivocally represent the progressive spirit and policy we 
appeal for the support of all American citizens, without regard to 
previous political affiliations. * 



INDEX 



Adams, John Quincy, on Cuba, 8. 
Ag-uinaldo, Filipino leader, 27, 77. 
Alaska boundary question, 92, 109. 
Aldrich, Nelson W., 6, 7. 
Anthracite coal strike, in 1902, 93. 
" Anti-imperialism," 24, 41, 58, 67, 

68, 72, 73. 120, 278. 

Anti-imperialist League, conven- 
tion of 1900, 69. 
Anti-imperialists, conference of, in 

1900, 68. 
Arizona, question of admission of, 
49, 62, 67, 122, 144, 178, 193, 204, 278. 

Barker, Wharton, candidate for 
President, 42. 

Blaine, James G., Secretary of State, 
holds that the Clayton-Bulwer 
Treaty is abrogated, 79; his opinion 
of the Tenure of Office Act, 224. 

Boer War, 41, 50, 63, 67. 

Boutwell, Georgre S., 25. 

Boxer insurrection in China, 83. 

Brownsville affair, 153. 

Bryan, William J., his position on 
the Treaty of Paris, 26 ; his leader- 
ship in the canvass of 1900, 31 ; nom- 
inated for President by the Fusion 
wing of the Populists, 39 ; dominates 
the Democratic convention of 1900, 
56; nominated by that convention, 
63; endorsed by the Anti-imperial- 
ists, 71; activity in the preelection 
canvass, 73 ; opposition to, in 1904, 
95 ; his opposition to Judge Parker, 
117 ; mildly supports the ticket, 133 ; 
in the canvass of 1908, 153, 157, 183 ; 
nominated for the third time, 196 ; 
his stumping tours, 206. 

Caffery, Donelson, nominated for 
President, declines, 72. 

Cambon, Jules, French Ambassador 
at Washington, 2X 

Campaigrn contributions by cor- 
porations, 149, 188, 201, 266, 271, 
282. 



Campaigrn funds, publicity of, 149, 

180, 1S8, 201, 266, 271, 282. 

Canal, Isthmian, its construction ad- 
vocated in party platforms, 50, 62, 
66 ; negotiations with Colombia, 88 ; 
its construction assured, 91 ; other 
references, 106, 122, 178, 193, 267, 277, 
288. 

Cannon, Joseph G., 14, 156, 181. 
Canvass of 1900, characteristics of, 

72 ; of 1904, 133. 
Carroll, Georgre W., nominated for 

Vice-President, 112. 
Chafin, Eugrene W., nominated for 

President in 1908, 198 ; in 1912, 279. 
Child labor, 149, 160, 167, 193, 198, 255, 

280, 283. 

Chinese exclusion, 63, 107. 
Citizenship, of inhabitants of the 

Philippines and Porto Rico, 78. 
Civil service, in political platforms, 

49, 66, 68, 72, 107, 111, 123, 177, 193, 265, 

277, 279, 290 ; reform, history of, 

224. 

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, 7, 79. 

Cleveland, Grover, his unpleasant 
situation, 1894-97, 1 ; his attitude to- 
ward the Cuban rebellion, 10 ; with- 
draws treaty of annexation of Ha- 
waii, 21 , his use of the veto power, 
233, 237. 

Coal strike, in 1902, 93, 108. 

Colombia, Eepublic of, blocks the 
Panama Canal, 89. 

Commerce and Labor, establishment 
of a department of, advocated in 
paity platforms, 50, 62. 

Common carriers, regulations of, 
150. 

Congrress, party divisions in, 2, 29, 

83. 

Conservation of natural resources, 

151, 176, 194, 198,286. 

" Constructive " recess of the Sen- 
ate, 226. 

Consular system, in political plat- 
forms, 50, 286. 



294 



INDEX 



Continental party, convention of 

1904, 130. 

Conventions, national: 

Auti-iniperialist League (1900), 69. 
Continentiil party (1904), 130. 
Democratic party (1900), 56; (1904), 

117; (1908), 182 ; (1912 ,268. 
Independence party (1908), 199. 
National Liberty party (1904), 127. 
Populist party, Fusion wing (1900), 

39; 
Middle-of-the-road wing (1900), 

42 ; (1904), 114 ; (1908), 158. 
Progressive party (1912), 281. 
Prohibition party (1900), 51; (1904), 

109; (1908), 197; (1912), 279. 
Kepublican party (1900), 45 ; (1904), 

104 ; (1908), 169 ; (1912), 261. 
Silver Republican party (1900), 64. 
Socialist party (1900), 34 ; (1904), 97 ; 

(1908), 182; (1912), 251. 
Socialist Labor party (1900), 44; 

(1904), 112 ; (1908), 181 ; (1912), 247. 
United Christian party (1900), 37; 

(1904), 103. 
United Reform party (1900), 36. 
Copyright, 149. 
Corregran, Charles H., nominated for 

President, 114. 
Count of electoral votes, election of 
1900, 74 ; election of 1904, 140 ; elec- 
tion of 1908, 212. 
Courts and judgres, 62, lie, 160, 175, 

256, 262, 272, 283. 

Cox, William W., nominated for 
Vice-President, 114. 

Crum, William D., case of, 226. 

Cuba, 8 ; insurrection of 1905, 9; atti- 
tude of Presidents Cleveland and 
McKinley, 10, 13; action of Con- 
gress, 11, 12, 14, 18, 19, 20 ; attitude 
of parties on the subject, 12, 69, 105 ; 
government established, 80; Inter- 
vention by the United States, 146, 
177. 

Currency question, 3, 29, 47, 62, 65, 
68, 130, 149, 286. 

Danish West Indies, 82, 91. 

Davis, Henry G., nominated for Vice- 
President, 126. 

Debs, Eugrene V., candidate for 
President, 34, 103, 168, 251. 

De Lome, Sefior, Spanish Minister 
at Wasliington, 14. 

Democratic party, convention of 



1900, 56 ; Of 1904, 117 ; of 1908, 182 ; of 
1912, 268. 

Dingrley tariff. See Tariff of 1897. 

Divorce laws, uniform, in party plat- 
forms, 111, 197. 

Donnelly, I&natius, candidate for 
Vice-President, 42. 

Eigrht-hour system. See Hours of 

labor. 
Electoral and popular votes, in 

1900, 75 ; in 1904, 137 ; in 1908, 208. 

Ellis, Seth H., candidate for Presi- 
dent, 37. 

Employers' liability, 150, 174, 192, 

198, 202, 265. 

Fairbanks, Charles W., 104, 155; 

nominated for Vice-President, 109; 

elected, 137. 
Farmers' Alliance, platform in 1900, 

32. 

Fifteenth Amendment to the Con- 
stitution, enforcement of, 49, 108, 

175. 

Forest reserves, 151, 176, 195, 204, 

287. 
Free silver, 2, 7, 32, 33, 40, 43, 46, 48, 

57, 61, 62, 73. 
Fuller, Melville W., 76, 140, 213. 

" General debate " in Congrress, 4. 

Gillhaus, Augrust, nominated for 
President, 182 ; for Vice-President, 
247. 

Gold standard, established by Act of 
1900, 29 ; endorsed by Republicans, 
47 ; condemned by Democrats, 62; 
by Silver Republicans, 65 ; other ref- 
erences, 72, 105, 119. 

Graves, John T., nominated for Vice- 
President, 206. 

Gray, Georgre, 125, 155, 182, 186, 196. 

Great Britain, relations with, 79. 

Hag-ue Conference, in party plat- 
forms, 50. 

Hale, Eug-ene, 12, 32. 

Hamilton, Alexander, on powers of 
the Supreme Court, 214; on the 
power of removal from offlce, 219; 
on the veto power, 229, 234. 

Hanford, Benjamin, candidate for 
Vice-President, 103, 168. 

Hanna, Marcus A., considered as 
opposing candidate to Roosevelt, 
95. 



INDEX 



295 



Harriman. Job, candidate for Vice- 
I'lesideiit, 34. 

Hawaii, annexed, 21 ; policy respect- 
ing, (i«, 70. 

Hay-Paimcefote Treaty, 62, 179. 

Hearst, William R., %, 123, 104, 157, 

VJ'J. 

Hill, David B., 57, C4. 

Hisgren, Thomas L,, nominated for 

President, 200. 
Hoar, George F., 32. 
Hours of labor, as a political issue, 

30, 115, 100, 107, 174, 192, 202, 255, 
283; considered by Congress, 149, 
180. 

House of Bepresentatives, modern 
system of considering important 
measures hy, 5. 

Howe, Archibald M., nominated for 
Vice-I'resident, declines, 72. 

Hughes, Charles E., 15.5, 181; his 
theory ot the power of an execu- 
tive, 240. 

Immigrration, restriction of, in po- 
litical platforms, 48, 68, 100, 195, 204, 
200, 207 ; agitation against Japanese 
immigration in San Francisco, 147. 

Inauguration of McKinley, second 
term, l9oi, 70; of Roosevelt, 1905, 

140 ; of Taft, 1909, 212. 

Income tax, authority for a national, 
advocated, 33, 40, 43, 65, 167, 191, 197, 

2.55, 271, 280, 289. 

Independence League, 1.54, 157. 

Independence party (see also Inde- 
pendence League), convention of 
1908, 199. 

Initiative in legislation, 34, 36, 43, 

60, 111, 110, l.'i2, 100, 108, 200, 255, 280, 

282. 

Injunction, government by, in party 
platforms, 02, 116, 160, 168, 175, 180, 
192, 201, 275, 283. 

Insurance against sickness, etc., 
in political platforms, .%, 1.57. 

Intervention, between Spain and the 
United States, proposed, 16. 

Irrigation of arid lands, 49, 63, 67, 

lOG, 121, 194, 205, 267, 280, 286. 

Jackson, Andrew, his use of the 
power of removal from ofRce, 221 ; 
his use of the veto power, 230. 

Japan, relations with, 148. 

Japanese immigration, in political 



platforms, 42, 63; agitation in San 
Francisco, 147. 

Jefferson, Thomas, advocates acqui- 
sition of Cuba, 9. 

Johnson, Andrew, his use of the 
power (jf removal, 222; his use of 
the veto power, 233. 

Johnson, John A., 154, 186, 196. 

Jones, John P., 6. 

Kent, Chancellor, on removals from 
ofhce, 219. 

Kern, John W., nominated for Vice- 
I'resident, 197. 

Knox, Philander C, l.50, 180. 

La FoUette, Eohert E., 150, 181. 

Lee, Fitzhugh, Consul-General at Ha- 
vana, 15, 17. 

Leonard, Jonah F. B., candidate for 
I'resident, 37. 

Liquor, intoxicating, as a political 

issue, .'j8, 52, 104, 110, 197, 2.59, 279. 
L3mching, in a party platform, 127. 

McKinley, William, urges revision 
of the tariff, 2 ; his attitude on the 
Cuban rebellion, 13 ; efforts to main- 
tain peace with Spain, 10 ; message 
to Congress which led to war, 17 ; 
nominated for reelection, 51 ; re- 
elected, 75; his journeys, 83; advo- 
cates reciprocity, 84 ; assassinated, 
85 ; tribute to his memory by the 
Republican convention of 1904, 108. 

Maclay, William, 217, 220. 

Madison, James, on the danger of 
legislative usurpation, 215; on the 
veto power, 229 ; his use of the veto, 
230. 

Maine, battleship, destruction of, 14. 

Marcy, William L., enunciates the 
theory of the " spoils system," 221. 

Marshall, Thomas B., nominated 
for Vice-I'resident, 208. 

Martin, David H., candidate for 
Vice-President, 37. 

Meat inspection, 149. 

Merchant Marine, encouragement 
of, in political platforms, 49, 63, 107, 
122, 177. 192, 206, 277. 

Metcalf, Henry B., candidate for 

Vice-President, .56. 
Mills, Eoger Q., 12. 
Mines, public ownership of, urged, 

36, 104, 107, 254. 



296 



INDEX 



Mississippi River, improvement of, 
260, 274, 288. 

Monopolies. See Trusts. 

Monroe Doctrine, iu political plat- 
forms, 50, 60, 107, 109, 123, 272 ; appli- 
cation to the Spanish situation, 7 ; 
to the Venezuelan question, 91. 

Morgan, John T., advocate of the 
Nicaragua route, 88. 

Morris, Gouverneur, his plan of a 
Council of State, 218 ; his opinion on 
the veto power, 229. 

Munro, Donald B., nominated for 
Vice-President, 182. 

National Liberty party, convention 

of 1904, 127. 
Naturalization, 149 ; of anarchists, 

260. 

New Mexico, question of admission, 
49, 62, 67, 122, 144, 178, 193, 204, 278. 

Nicaragua Canal. See Canal, Isth- 
mian. 

Nicholson, Samuel T., candidate for 
Vice-President, 37. 

Oklahoma, admission of, advocated 
in party platforms, 49, C2, 67, 122 ; 
admitted, 143. 

Olney, Eichard, 12, 124. 

" Ostend Manifesto," 9. 

Over-capitalization of corpora- 
tions, 149. 

Panama Canal. See Canal, Isthmian. 
Panama, revolution in, and secession 

from Colombia, 89, 109. 
Pan-American Conference, 1906, 

146, 177, 195. 

Parcels post, advocated, 278, 290. 

Parker, Alton B., 96, 117; nominated 
for President, 123; his declaration 
on the gold standard, 125; in the 
canvass of 1904, 133 ; in the conven- 
tion of 1908, 183. 

Pauncefote, Sir Julian, British 
Ambassador at Washington, 16. 

Patent law, reform of, 255, 286. 

Pensions, in political platforms, 49, 
66, 68, 72, 107, 111, 123, 177, 193, 
290. 

Philippine Islands, become Ameri- 
can territory, 23; insurrection in, 
breaks out, 24 ; insurrection in, sup- 
pressed, in 1901, 77, 105 ; attitude of 
parties relative to the acquisition 



and retention of, 24, 31, 41, 50, 59,68, 
70, 120, 132, 149, 177, 195, 267. See also 
Anti-imperialism. 
Pierce, Franklin, his theory of the 

veto power, 232. 
Piatt Amendment, governing rela- 
tions with Cuba, 81. 
Platforms : 
Anti-imperialists (1900), 68. 
Anti-imperiahst League (1900), 69. 
Continental party (1904), 129. 
Democratic party (1900), 58; (1904), 

119 ; (1908), 186 ; (1912), 268. 
Farmers' Alliance (1900), 33. 
Independence party (1908), 199. 
National Liberty party (1904), 127. 
Populist party, Fusion wing (1900); 

39. 
Middle-of-the-road wing (1900), 

43; (1904), 115; (1908), 159. 
Progressive party (1912), 281. 
Prohibition party (1900), 52; (1904), 

110; (1908), 197; (1912), 279. 
Eepublican party (1900), 46; (1904), 

104; (1908), 170; (1912), 261. 
Silver Kepublican party (1900), 64. 
Socialist party (1900), 34 ; (1904), 

98; (1908), 162; (1912), 251. 
Socialist Labor party (1900), 44 ; (1904 

and 1908), 112; (1912), 247. 
United Christian party (1900), 37, 

(1904), 103. 
United Keform party (1900), 37. 
" Pocket vetoes," 230. 
Polygamy, in party platforms, ill, 
127, 184, 280. 

Popular and electoral votes, in 

1900, 75 ; in 1904, 137 ; in 1908, 208. 

Populist party, Fusionist wing, con- 
vention of 1900, 39. 

Middle-of-the-road wing, conven- 
tion of 1900, 42 ; Of 1904, 114 ; of 1908, 
158. 

Populists in the Senate, their atti- 
tude on the tariff of 1897, 7. 

Porto Bico, policy respecting, 24 
(note), 26, 28, 47, 58, 62, 67, 68, 70, 105, 
122, 149, 177, 195. 

Postal saving banks, advocated, 33, 
40, 116, 159, 173, 191, 197. 

Powers of the President ; prescribed 
in the Constitution, 218 ; the power 
of appointment and removal, 218 ; the 
power to fill vacancies, 226 ; the veto 
power, 228 ; the power over legisla- 
tion, 234. 



INDEX 



297 



President, personal protection of the, 

87. 

Presidential primaries, 271, 282. 

Preston, Martin B., uoaiiuiited for 
President, 182. 

Primary election, in party plat- 
forms, 132, 271, 282. 

Proctor, Redfield, report on condi- 
tions in Cuba, 15. 

Prohibition Party, convention of 
I'JOO, 51 ; of 1904, lOy ; of 1908, 197 ; of 
1912, 279. 

Protection, by tarifE, in platforms, 48, 
68, 72, 109, 120, 203, 209, 289 ; 

of American citizens abroad, in 
political platforms, 50, 108, 122, 176, 
193, 205, 266, 278, 290. 

Publicity of campaign expendi- 
tures, 149, 180, 188, 201, 266, 271, 282. 
Pure Food Law, 149, 277. 

Bailroad rates, regulation of, 150, 
174, 189, 273. 

Railroads, control by the Govern- 
ment, 33, 30, 40, 43, 61, 67, 117, 132, 
159, 167, 190, 202, 254. 

Rebates by railroads, 150, 174, 189, 

203. 

Recall of public ofacers, 36, 43, lie, 

100, 200, 255. 

Reciprocity, in political platforms, 
48, 107, 123, 130 ; advocated by Pres- 
ident McKinley, 83, 84. 
with Canada, 152, 289. 

Reed, Thomas B., elected Speaker of 
the 5th Congress, 4 ; opposed to the 
Philippine policy, 32. 

Referendum in leg-islation, 34, 30, 

43, 06, 116, 132, 160, 168, 200, 255, 280, 
282. 

Removals from office, power of the 

President discussed, 218. 
Republican National Convention, 

of 1900, 45 ; of 1904, 104 ; Of 1908, 169 ; 
Of 1912, 261. 

Roosevelt, Theodore, Governor of 
New York, 45 ; nominated for Vice- 
President, 51 ; in the canvass of 1900, 
73; elected, 74; succeeds President 
McKinley, 86; acts to end the coal 
strike, 1902, 93 ; nominated for re- 
election, 109 ; elected, 137 ; not a can- 
didate for a third term, 139, 140 ;char- 
acteristics of his second administra- 
tion, 141 : initiates movement to end 
the Kusso-Japanese War, 147; the 



attempts to stampede the conven- 
tion of 1908 in his favor, 170 ; his 
theory of a " constructive " recess of 
the Senate, 220 ; his power over leg- 
islation, 237 ; nominated for Presi- 
dent in 1912, 2S1. 
Root, Elihu, 104, 146, 155, 177. 

Russo-Japanese War, 147. 

Samoa, 5o. 

Santo Domingro, relations with, 145. 

Seidel, Emil, nominated for Vice- 
President, 251. 

Senate, abolition of the, advocated by 
Socialists, 168, 250. 

Senators, United States, election of, 
by popular vote, 34, 38, 43, 02,05, 112, 
180, 193, 197, 205, 271, 280, 282. 

Sherman, James S., nominated for 
Vice-President, 181, 261 ; elected, 
208. 

"Silver Republicans," their atti- 
tude on the tariff question in 1897, 
6 ; convention of 1900, 64. 

Single term for President, 272, 280. 

Social-Democratic party. Hee Social- 
ist party. 

Socialist-Labor party, convention 

of 1900, 44 ; of 1904, 112 ; of 1908, 181 ; 
of 1912, 247. 

Socialist party, convention of 1900, 

34 ; of 1904, 97 ; Of 1908, 161 ; of 1912, 

251. 
Spain, relations with, and war of 

1898, 8, et seq.; war declared, 20; 

peace restored, 21. 
Speaker of the House, power of the, 

187. — • __ 

"Stampede" for Roosevelt, at- 
tempted, 170. 

Sta.ndard Oil Company, 151. 

" Stand-patters," 152. 

Stevenson, Adlai E., candidate for 
Vice-President, 64. 

Story, Joseph, on removals from 
office, 219. 

Supreme Court, decisions by, relat- 
ing to Philippines and Porto Kico, 
7S ; powers of, 213, 256. 

Swallow, Silas C, 37; nominated for 
Presitlent, 112. 

Taft. William H.. 150, 109 ; nominated 
for president, 180; elected, 208; in- 
augurated, 212 ; nominated for re- 
election, 261. 



298 



INDEX 



Tariff of 1897, 2, 6, 7, 46,50,61, 72, 

105, 162. 
platform declarations, 50, 69, 106, 

111, 172, 180, 189, 203, 269, 289 ; 
on articles controlled by " trusts," 

6, 41, 61, 66, 189. 
Taylor, George E., nominated for 

President, 127. 
Telegraphs and telephones, control 

of, by Government, 33, 36, 43, 117, 

159, 167, 254. 
" Teller" Amendment, to resolution 

declaring war with Spain, 19. 
Tenure of Office Act, 222. 
Third term for a President, 139, 

155. 

Tibbies, Thomas H., nominated for 
Vice-President, 117. 

Towne, Charles A., refuses Populist 
nomination as Vice-President, 39 ; 
votes for, in Democratic Conven- 
tion, 1900, 196. 

Treaty of Paris, restoring peace 
with Spain, 26 ; ratified, 28, 

Trusts, as a political issue, 33, 35, 
43, 48, 60, 65, 66, 104, 106, 111, 115, 
120, 149, 151, 169, 173, 180, 203, 263, 
270; 

tariff on articles controlled by, 6, 
41, 61, 66, 189. 



United Christian party, convention 

of 1900, 37 ; of 1904, 103. 

Union Eeform party, convention of 
1900, 36. 

Vacancies in office, during recess of 

the Senate, 226. 

Venezuela, 82, 144. 

Veto power of the President, dis- 
cussed, 228 ; its abolition advocated, 
256. 

Wage system, denounced, 35, 100. 

Washing'ton, Booker T., his lunch- 
eon with President Koosevelt, 86. 

Watkins, Aaron S., nominated for 
Vice-President, 1908, 198; in 1912, 
279. 

Watson, Thomas E., nominated for 
President, 117, 161. 

Weyler, General, Governor-General 
of Cuba, 13. 

Wilson-Gorman Tariff. 2. 

Wilson, Woodrow, nominated for 
President, 268. 

Woman suffrage, in political plat- 
forms, 36, 38, 167, 198, 255, 280, 282, 

Woodford, Stewart L., 12, 15. 

WooUey, John G., 37 ; nominated for 
President, 56. 



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